Thousands gathered in the rain on 15th May at Sydney Town Hall in protest on Nakba Day. This year marks 77 years since the Nakba, the initiation of the genocide with the first major displacement of Palestinian’s by Zionist settler colonialists. Between 750,000 and 1,000,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes, many murdered, many tortured and sexually assaulted. Al-Nakba, meaning “The Catastrophe” in Arabic, refers to the events of 1948, but for Palestinians the Nakba never ceased, and continues today.
Amal Naser of the Palestinian Action Group (PAG) began with an Acknowledgement of Country. Naser spoke of her family’s history and connection to the violence of 1948, emphasising that the violence and terror continues today.
Naser is the granddaughter of two Palestinian refugees who spoke to her of their witness to massacres where “no one was spared, not young, not old, not man, not woman”, where militias marched from house to house, expelling the Palestinians whose families had lived there for generations, where those seeking shelter were killed in the street.
Naser’s speech did not limit the understanding of the Nakba to a single historical event, instead explaining how it echoed throughout Palestinian history through the trauma suffered, and how the violence inflicted by Israel continues to this day. She stressed recent instances of war crimes such as the monitoring and limiting of calories entering Gaza, the bombing of food infrastructure, and the recent atrocities committed since October 7th. Her address ended with a recognition of the Australian Labor Party’s (ALP) complicity in this genocide through its inaction.
The first speaker, Fouad Charidi, was born in Al-Jalil, a village in Northern Palestine. He was just a boy when violent Zionist forces attacked, and was forced to leave his home. Charidi spoke at the rally; he has spoken at Nakba rallies in the past, sharing his story.
“If you open my heart, you will see Palestine,” he began. “It is our land, our sky, our dream which will never, never die”. He emphasised the ongoing nature of the Nakba, citing Israel’s continued ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and its recent manifestation last October. The current tragedy in Gaza is not the result of a war between two equal parties but a brutal occupation by Israel.
Charidi made reference to the many generations of his family that have lived in the land, stating “Jerusalem city was being built 2100 years before Moses was even born. We are not terrorists. We are peaceful people”. He noted that Palestinians have been robbed of their homeland, at the price of Israelis whose descendants are of other nationalities, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose father was from Poland.
Damian Ridgwell of PAG, a co-chair of the rally also emphasised the ongoing nature of Israel’s relentless genocide since the Nakba. He talked of the 53,000 Palestinians killed since October 2023, and the support which the ALP provides Israel. This criticism specifically cited Penny Wong’s statements that Australia could not make determinations of Israel’s actions from afar. Damien stated that the Israeli Cabinet’s recent declaration is a clear sign that they wish to cary out genocide, deportations, and war crimes.
Renee Nayef, a Palestinian student from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), described the Nakba as a “catastrophe upon a catastrophe”. She condemned Israel withholding food from Gaza, and assassination of journalists, particularly the murder of Hassan Eslaih and a twelve year old witness. The lack of international response, Renee said, was indicative to the fact that Palestinian lives do not matter to the world.
“We know that these murders are not the exception. They are the definition… Palestinian bodies are the foundation on which this occupation was created, and they are the foundation on which it continues to develop. And therefore there can be no other option but to fight for the end of the occupation in its entirety.”
At this point rain began to fall and umbrellas went up, many with Palestinian flags printed on them. The Greens representative of Newtown in the NSW Legislative Assembly, Jenny Leong’s acknowledgement of country focused on the shared history of settler colonialism and genocide in both Israel and Australia. Leong spoke to the Greens’ support for Palestine and the current inaction of the Labor government, pointing to the recent “hype” by conventional news media over the Greens loss of seats as nearsighted, as they attempted to brand it as an issue of dwindling Australian interest in Palestine. She stated that for the Greens, supporting Palestine was not an electoral decision, but rather a moral one. Previous speakers had also highlighted that the Greens vote was at a historic high, and the Liberals, a party which heavily supported Palestine, lost by a historic margin. Like the other speakers, Leong stressed the continuing nature of the Nakba.
Students for Palestine member Yasmine Johnson stated the genocide in Palestine started with the blessing of all major powers, including America and Australia. “They drew the borderlines and declared their ongoing support for a state which led, as its first objective, the annihilation of Palestine…the major powers have sat and watched as over and over and over again, Israel has erased and redrawn those lines to create new brutal realities for Palestinians”.
Johnson read out extracts from a letter by Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident of the United States and prominent figure in pro-Palestinian university demonstrations, who had been forbidden to see his the birth of his daughter by the United Stated Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Why do faceless politicians have the power to strip human beings of their divine moments?” Johnson identified the root of the Palestinian suffering as a sick and twisted system that prioritises power and profit.
The march then began, past Town Hall and down through the city in the heavy rain. Musicians played Arabic music on the sidestreets, and protesters chanted and held aloft Palestinian and Lebanese flags. The protestors gathered where Pitt Street Mall meets Market Street to listen to the final address.
Dr Bushra Othman, a Palestinian-Australian and granddaughter of Palestinians who were murdered, and a doctor who had travelled to Gaza to aid at the Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital, spoke about the attacks on healthcare workers and doctors, and of her colleagues who had been unable to help due to damage to their hospital. She emphasised the dire state of the hospitals in Gaza, stating that “all we can do is watch as patients die slowly before our very eyes”. She talked of her firsthand experience witnessing genocide. Her address concluded with reference to the martyred Palestinian dead.
“They’ve shown all of us how to wake up every single day and live with honour, dignity, and courage, they have sacrificed and paid the ultimate price. It’s time for us all to step up. Long live Palestine.”
