Sydney protests Gaza attack

BY SHANT FABRICATORIAN
A barrage of protests broke out across the world in reaction to Israel launching air strikes on Gaza just prior to the new year, and its subsequent defiance of international calls for a ceasefire. Sydney has seen a number of these rallies, with thousands turning out to show their support for Palestinians living in the embattled region.

The first was a snap protest on December 29, two days after the strikes began. Organiser Rawan Abdul-Nabi estimated around 1000 people turned up for the rally, which wound its way from Town Hall to the US embassy chanting ‘Free Palestine now’ and ‘Stop killing innocents’. According to organiser Tim Dobson, the protest attracted a diverse group of anti-war activists and members of the Arab community.

Ali, 27, said his aim was to show support for the population of Gaza. ‘I’m here to demonstrate solidarity against what’s happening and to demonstrate that what’s going on is wrong,’ he said.

Rebecca, 31, agreed that the aim was to show the Palestinians they had not been forgotten. ‘The main thing that can be achieved is showing Gazans there is support [for them], because a lot of governments aren’t showing it,’ she said. ‘The elections are coming up, and the government is quite split after the Lebanese defeat [in 2006]. Sure there are rockets being fired from the border towns into Israel proper, but the response is grossly disproportionate.’

A larger rally took place on January 4, attracting a couple of thousand protesters. Speakers at this event included Forad Shriedy, who told the crowd he had been forced to flee Palestine as an eight-year-old in 1948.

Smaller protest vigils were also held on January 15 outside Town Hall, with further action planned for January 18 and 22. Speakers on Sunday were scheduled to include anti-war activist John Pilger, Antony Lowenstein, Greens MP Sylvia Hale, the Maritime Union of Australia’s Paul McAleer, and Palestinian community leaders.

Protests have also taken place in other Australian cities, including Melbourne and Canberra. Worldwide, residents in London, Washington DC, Chicago, Athens, Stockholm, Warsaw, Helsinki, and across France, including in Paris and Marseilles, have turned out to express their anger at Israel’s continued blitz on Gaza.

Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard, while endorsing continued efforts on the part of the United Nations Security Council to establish a ceasefire, pointed out that ‘the act of aggression was engaged in by Hamas which commenced shelling with rockets and mortars into Israel’.

But William Sieghart, chairman of independent conflict resolution agency Forward Thinking, pointed out it was the Israeli Defence Forces which broke the ceasefire two months ago by entering Gaza.

Israel’s strikes on Gaza have also provoked outrage within the local Jewish community, with 120 Australian Jews signing a statement accusing the Israeli Government of a ‘grossly disproportionate military assault on Gaza because it was Israel that violated the fragile truce on November 4, 2008’. Signatories of the document include authors Linda Jaivin, Sara Dowse and Antony Loewenstein; NSW Greens leader Ian Cohen; literary critic Andrew Riemer; and academics Andrew Benjamin, Gavin Kitching, David Goodman and Michele Grossman.

Defenders of Israel’s actions argue that it is acting to ensure its own long-term security.