Vivienne Porzsolt, a spokesperson for Jews Against the Occupation Sydney (JAO), is one of 10 activists from NSW who will spend their summer break challenging Israel's defiance of international law. She will take part in the international Gaza Freedom March over December-January.
Porzsolt told Green Left Weekly she is angry about "the almost total silence by the US and its lackeys about the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life and property".
JAO supports the international protest. "We feel a Jewish voice sends a particularly powerful message that challenging Israel's defiance of international law and human rights conventions is not anti-Semitic", she said.
"People forget that while the bombing [of Gaza] has stopped, the blockade — an act of war — continues to cause untold misery."
Porzsolt encourages more people to join the "Aussie contingent", which includes a retired psychiatrist, a student, an academic and a book editor. Veteran peace activists such as Donna Mulhearn, Marlene Obeid of the Sydney Stop the War Coalition and Bashir Sawalha of the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine will also take part.
Novelist and poet Alice Walker will join Syrian comedian Duraid Lahham and a contingent of US students in the action. It will gather in Egypt and cross into Gaza to march alongside Palestinians in a non-violent demonstration on December 31.
Global solidarity actions have also been called for the day. In Sydney the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine is organising an event.
"The more people on the march, the more powerful the message", said Porzsolt. "Like the formidable UN Goldstone Fact Finding Mission Report, direct action by the people of the world cannot be ignored."
The protest march call does not advocate a particular political solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but Porzsolt said she will march "for a future in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side on the basis of equality and mutual respect, with the wrongs of the past acknowledged and, as far as practical, remedied".
While the march is mostly aimed at the Israeli government, Porzsolt said Canberra's "one-sided position" was "unacceptable".
"As was the case with the war on Iraq, the Rudd government and opposition are completely out of step with Australians on this [issue]", she said. "It must work for a solution that brings security and equality to Israelis and Palestinians."
[For more details visit www.gazafreedommarch.org or email Vivienne