Hundreds of people participated in events during the June 6-9 international week of action for justice for Palestine and an end to the 40-year Israeli occupation. The events were organised by the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (CJPP) and the General Union of Palestinian Workers.
On June 6, 100 people attended a parliamentary "Friends of Palestine" reception to support the ending of the occupation. The event was hosted by NSW Labor MP for Liverpool Paul Lynch. The speakers at the event were lawyer and author Randa Abdel Fateh, Palestinian-Australian teacher Binad Al Ahmed, Professor John McDonald from the University of Western Sydney and Birzeit University, and Catholic bishop of Canberra and Goulburn Pat Power.
More than 100 people braved the rain to rally at Sydney Town Hall on June 9. The rally was chaired by Peter Manning, senior lecturer and acting director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney. Speakers included Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, Sheik Amin Imam from Minto Mosque, Bashir Sawalha from CJPP, Barbara Block from Jews against the Occupation, and Fred Fuentes from the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network who read out greetings from Venezuela's charge d'affairs in Australia, Nelson Davila.
Sawalha told the crowd: "We're here to demand an end to the state terrorism of Israel and the illegal occupation of Palestine. We call for an end to the slaughter of innocent people. Israel controls daily life with an iron fist. No-one is more unfairly treated than the Palestinian people in this present time."