Today marks 77 years since the Nakba – the catastrophe – the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people that paved the way for the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. On this day and every day, APAN stands in solidarity with Palestinian people everywhere as together we continue our struggle for justice and self-determination.
The Nakba never ended. In 1948, between 750,000 and one million Palestinians were driven from their homes and land, with 540 villages and towns destroyed. Today in Gaza we have witnessed over 2 million people displaced with the Economist now believing the death toll may be at least 77,000.
The colonisation process continues unabated in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank, as the Israelis steal more Palestinian land, destroy Palestinian homes and livelihoods with settler violence raging, aided by Israeli authorities.
The Zionist settler colonial project has always been one of violence and dispossession.
We mark this day on sovereign First Nations lands across the continent. With a clear understanding of the similarities in foundational myths of “terra nulius” here and the Zionist lie in Palestine of “a land without a people for a people without a land”. Both here and in Palestine, settler colonies were created through the genocide and dispossession of the Indigenous inhabitants. First Nations have resisted this myth for 237 years, and this Nakba Day APAN recognises the 77 year long Palestinian resistance to the occupation of Palestine.
It is past time for the Australian government to turn their words into actions and demand Israel comply with international law and to:
- Publicly condemn and oppose any policy, plan or proposal that facilitates or legitimises Israel’s ethnic cleansing or permanent displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
- Immediately impose targeted sanctions on Israeli officials, individuals or entities responsible for ordering, carrying out or inciting war crimes, the blockade of Gaza, genocide, or illegal occupation.
- Suspend all military cooperation, trade and exports with Israel, whether direct or indirect, including the export of parts or components that might be used in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.
- Use all diplomatic channels to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to Israel’s blockade, and the unfettered entry of humanitarian aid to all areas of Gaza, using existing UN mechanisms.
- Publicly support international legal efforts to hold Israel accountable, including the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
- Call for the UN General Assembly to act under the “Uniting for Peace” resolution to authorise the urgent deployment of an international protection force, composed of ‘neutral’ or friendly states – not from countries complicit in the genocide – to protect Palestinians in Gaza.
- Support domestic legal safeguards, such as the Red Lines Package of legislation, to ensure Australia does not aid or abet war crimes, illegal settlements and crimes against humanity.
Palestinian lives depend upon Australia, with its international allies, standing up to end Israel’s impunity.
We call on people of conscience everywhere to join us. Across the world millions of people have taken to the streets to demand justice and freedom. Through your power and persistence, Palestinian liberation is closer than ever before, and together we must keep turning up, bringing our friends and families, and demanding a free Palestine from the river to the sea.