he Australian Greens are in complete and total solidarity with the Palestinian community globally today on the 75th commemoration of the Nakba, or ‘the catastrophe’. 

About 15,000 Palestinians were killed in a series of mass atrocities, including dozens of massacres, such as the Deir Yassin massacre on the western outskirts of Jerusalem, and the Tantura massacre where over 200 Palestinian women, men and children were killed by militia.

Over 530 Palestinian towns and villages were completely destroyed. 80 percent of the Palestinians living in historical Palestine were made refugees and the remaining 20 percent became internally displaced people in their own land. 

As a result of the Nakba, Palestinian people live scattered all over the world. They are all directly impacted by the regime that the State of Israel has established.

According to the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network:

• 6 million refugees reside outside of the historical Palestine and are denied their inalienable right to return home
• 3.2 million Palestinians live in the West Bank are denied the right to vote for the regime that rules over every aspect of their lives
• 2.2 million Palestinians live under an illegal and inhumane siege in the Gaza strip and are denied the right to vote for the regime that rules over every aspect of their lives
• 1.9 million inside the historical Palestine who have the “right to vote” but live as 5th class citizens inside Israel.

Today, the State of Israel continues to control the borders, imports and exports, water supply, electricity supply, people's movements, the army and the courts. Israeli settlements, illegal under international law, are expanding on Palestinian land. The Gaza Strip is the scene of a humanitarian disaster that is a direct result of policies of the State of Israel. 

he Greens oppose any violence, whether that be airstrikes or rockets, especially that which impacts innocent civilians. But we cannot ignore the asymmetry of power or that this cycle of violence will not end until the root causes of injustice are addressed. 

It will not stop until the occupation ends. We must end the evictions, the illegal settlements, the demolitions and the oppression.  

We continue to call for the  immediate end to all Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories, including natural growth, and the simultaneous commencement of the repatriation of Israeli settlers from Palestinian territories.

Primarily, we are calling on the Australian Government to immediately end its military and trade cooperation with the State of Israel. 

The Greens are united with the Palestinian community on the commemoration of the Nakba, and every day. We will continue to be in solidarity with Palestinians until they live in freedom, achieve self-determination and until their human rights are respected. 

Hero image: Pexels. 

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