BY LISA MACDONALD
SYDNEY — The Australian campaign in solidarity with the Palestinian people's struggle to end Israel's war against them, for self-determination and the return of their land have taken important steps forward here.
Following a number of large protest rallies in late October, another two rallies are being planned to pressure the Australian government to support the Palestine people's demands for peace with justice, and to broaden public opposition to the Israeli state's occupation of Palestine.
An 80-strong Green Left Weekly sponsored public meeting on November 1 endorsed a proposal from the Refugee Action Collective and Friends of Palestine to build a mass rally on United Nations Human Rights Day, December 10. The rally will assemble at noon at First Fleet Park, Circular Quay.
The combined rally will demand: Free Palestine! Israel out now!; All refugees are welcome: end mandatory detention! Close the detention camps!; and Justice for indigenous people: end mandatory sentencing! Treaty now!
Other activities have been organised by a number of groups to build that rally. On November 13, Sydney's streets will be plastered with posters advertising the rally, and a meeting initiated by Friends of Palestine that night will begin the process of establishing a broader solidarity group to organise and publicise the rally.
This will be followed on November 18 by an open meeting of all organisations and individuals who want to get involved in the campaign. The aim of the meeting is to bring together as many as Palestinians and supporters as possible to build a very large rally on December 10. The meeting will take place at 4pm at the University of Technology, Sydney.
In Sydney's western suburbs, a Democratic Socialist Party-organised public meeting in Parramatta on November 16 will provide an opportunity to discuss the situation in Palestine and how to strengthen the solidarity campaign. The DSP's Parramatta office will be used as an organising base in Sydney's west.
On November 17, "Red Cinema" will join the campaign with a screening of the film Jerusalem: An Occupation in Stone, about how Palestinians have been dispossessed of their homeland over the last half-century.
A rally endorsed by a wide range of Palestinian and left organisations will be held at Sydney Town Hall on November 24, starting at 5pm. The rally will demand the withdrawal of Israel's troops from West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, a UN inquiry into the deaths of Palestinian civilians, an end to the expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, and an end to Australian government support for Israel.
For information about how to get involved in the campaign, phone the Resistance Centres in Sydney on 9690 1977, or in western Sydney on 9687 5134; email <sydney@greenleft.org.au> or <sydwest@greenleft.org.au>.
In Adelaide, members and supporters of the newly formed Australian-Palestinian Council and the Democratic Socialist Party met on November 8 to plan a protest against the attacks on the Palestinian people and for an end to the Israeli occupation.
The protest will be held on November 29, part of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The day marks the adoption in 1947 of the UN resolution which provided for the establishment of a "Jewish state" and an "Arab state" in Palestine, with Jerusalem as a separate entity under a special international regime. Of the two states envisaged under this resolution, only one, Israel, came into being.
The protest will demand that Israel's troops be withdrawn immediately from Palestine, a United Nations international inquiry into the deaths of Palestinian civilians be carried out immediately, for the Israel government to charge the Israel citizens who have initiated the recent pogroms against the Palestinian people living in Israel, that the Australian government condemn the acts of war being carried out by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people and that the US cancel all military aid to Israel. To get involved phone 8231 6982.
Brisbane will its solidarity with the Palestinian people on November 18, at 11 am in King George Square. The protest will be a speak out organised by the local Palestinian community. For more information about how to get involved, phone the Brisbane Resistance Centre on 3831 2644 or email <brisbane@dsp.org.au>.
People are urgently needed to join the solidarity campaign. For information about solidarity activities planned, see page 31.