"A Jewish majority in a solely Jewish state necessitates perpetual discrimination against the Palestinians”, Anna Baltzer, a Jewish-American award-winning speaker for human rights in the Middle East, told an audience of 100 at the Queensland Parliamentary Annexe on October 27.
Baltzer is an author, former Fulbright scholar and granddaughter of Holocaust refugees. She has lived and worked in the West Bank, and has contributed to four upcoming books on the Palestinian struggle.
She called on people to support the call by Palestinian civil society for a boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel. Unions, churches and other organisations are beginning to take action on the campaign, Baltzer said.
"There is hope for the future," for a non-racial solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she said. The ongoing, resistance of the Palestinians is continuing and growing, as is international solidarity.
Baltzer also spoke in Melbourne on October 28.
Baltzer told the meeting of 100 people: “If you leave feeling sorry for the Palestinians then I have failed. Palestinians have enough sympathy, they now need people to take action.”