Thursday, 19 October 2023

Middle East conflict

Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (09:43): The death toll continues to rise and it is now close to 5000 as Israel continues indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza. Israel has now cut off electricity, food and medicine to over 1 million civilians on a piece of land that is half the size of Melbourne, and drinking water is running out. There have been 111 attacks on health care by Israeli bombs in the past 10 days, including on a hospital, which killed 500 civilians. The UN says that mass casualties coming out of Gaza are unlike anything they have ever seen.

But these attacks did not start on 7 October. The violent colonisation of Palestine started 75 years ago. For decades Israel’s extremist government has murdered Palestinians and denied them their basic rights. Children who grow up in refugee camps, who can see the sea on the horizon, never have the right to feel the waves lapping at their feet. Western governments, including this one, have declared support for the genocide and dispossession of Palestinian people under the guise of self-defence. There will come a time of peace, and their complicity will be understood. I stand in solidarity with the movement for a free Palestine, for lasting justice and peace. There must be a ceasefire and an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine.