Canterbury-Bankstown Council has unanimously voted to fly the Palestinian flag until a ceasefire is declared.
The motion will see the flag raised at two locations in the local government area, Bankstown’s Paul Keating Park and the Campsie Administration Building. A dedicated space in Paul Keating Park has been set aside for members of the community to lay flowers and wreaths in memory of the 8000 Palestinian people killed by Israeli forces since 7 October.
In a statement to Honi, Councillor Saleh, who moved the motion, said that in raising the Palestinian flag “to express sorrow and solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestine, we have shown that Canterbury-Bankstown City Council is not only the capital of multiculturalism in Australia but also the capital of humanity.
“With over 8000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, and almost half of them being children, the least we can do is share our condolences and grief with our local Palestinian Community,” Saleh stated.
The motion also called on the Australian government to “work quickly with the international community to end the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza”.
The decision came before Australia chose to abstain from a United Nations resolution that called for an “immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas. Australia was one of 45 abstentions, with 120 nations voting for and 14, including Israel and the US, voting against the resolution.
Palestine cannot vote at the UN General Assembly, and is included with Vatican City as one of two “non-member observer states”.
