“The UN General Assembly voted on November 29, 1947, to approve the partition plan, which recommended the creation of a Jewish and an Arab state, with (Doc) Evatt’s committee chairing the proceedings.” – Wikipedia.
Update
SEPTEMBER 27: Genoa dockworkers, organized with CALP and USB, prevented the Zim New Zealand from loading war material bound for Israel, occupying the Spinelli Terminal and immediately declaring a strike.
Around 10:00 PM, confirmation was received that the ship was leaving the port without loading its containers. In Genoa, there is no room for arms trafficking, no room for complicity with the genocidal government of Israel. With Palestine in our hearts.
Update
It is possible the Sumud flotilla will be attacked again in the next week and Israel may cripple their boats or, worse, still murder selected crew as they did on the Mavi Marmara. During this attack and in its aftermath, the IDF murdered 10 humanitarian aid workers brutally and 56 were severely injured. Nine of the 10 were killed during the attack, and the 10th victim died after spending a prolonged period in a coma.
MUA seafarer Hamish Paterson from the Queensland branch of the Maritime Union of Australia is sailing into these headwinds as an act of solidarity with the people of Gaza and to highlight the failures of the international community to stand up to Israel’s violence and human rights abuses.
Hopefully, Hamish and other crew members will have the solidarity of comrades back home at the branch and nationally through their union, the MUA.
Meanwhile, the destruction and occupation of Gaza city is a brutal reality unfolding in front of us.
Unable to inflict defeat on the Palestinian people, Israel escalated its occupation by leveling the northern part of the Gaza Strip this week. Just as the genocidal occupation had done previously in Rafah, Israeli forces have now laid to waste the ancient city of Gaza.
Not since Roman destruction of the ancient city of Carthage in 146 BCE, has there been such ruthless murders of inhabitants of a city. The IDF have proven they are capable of anything. They are using 5 year old children as target practice. . Netanyahu, the modern-day Scipio Africanus the Younger, has become an ogre throughout the world. He is still a hero in Israel, propped up by the United States.
A couple of weeks ago, Israel conducted bombing attacks on sovereign countries, Tunisia and Qatar. In Tunisia, the Sumud flotilla was the target, and in Qatar, it was Hamas who was the subject of an unsuccessful missile strike.
There were no casualties in Tunisia, not so in Qatar. In a densely populated international diplomatic area of Doha, several people were killed by the Israeli strike.
Look where ‘the two state solution’ got the Palestinian people.
The slogans adopted by Justice for Palestine Magandjin oppose Australian government complicity in the genocide.
The JFP slogans are realistic:
1. Impose sanctions on Israel,
2. End to the arms trade with Israel, and
3. Cut all diplomatic ties with Israel.
If Spain can do this, why can’t Australia?
People with Palestinian flags shut down stage 16 of la Vuelta a Espana last night. That is the second time in a week. Both stages 11 and 16 have been stopped by people protesting the genocide.
The UCI, an international body in charge of professional cycling, has refused to expel the Israeli team from the world’s biggest annual sporting events: Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and la Vuelta Espana. But the crowds have spoken, and who knows what will happen in Madrid at the end of the race?
Civilians in international waters seeking to deliver aid to Gaza are being attacked by explosive-laden drones.
This is a shocking development, and no further evidence should be required that Israel is operating outside of international laws and outside common morality in its ongoing bombardment and siege of Gaza. It is indefensible.
#globalsumudflotilla #FreePalestine #palestine
Ian Curr
10 September 2025
#freepalestine #bds #bdsyouth #brisbane #palestineyouthmovement #palestine #activism #arts #artsforpalestine #artsday #palestinianactivism #bdsyouthmagandjin #youthactivism #studentactivism
Global Sumud Flotilla Tracker https://flotilla-orpin.vercel.app/
Ian Curr
I understand how you might feel that way but that is no excuse for attacking the people who have not given up. The Palestinian resistance is united in pushing for statehood now, and JFP opposes them? That is not really how solidarity works.
See fb discussion at https://workersbushtelegraph.com.au/2025/09/10/israel-bombs-sumud-flotilla-and-doha/#comment-817101
John Tracey I do not oppose recognition of the state of Palestine. It is like the Voice. It is a sop to the gullible, a symbolic act.
Who will stop the Genocide? Who will defend the hospitals? Who will liberate al Quds? Who will guarantee the taxation income to the new state?
I do oppose the two state solution lie. That is hasbara.
Nor have I given up. It will take generations to repair the damage of this genocide. When will Palestinians in Gaza be able to rebuild their villages and towns in the occupied territories. Most of the 2.4 million people in Gaza come from elsewhere in Palestin.
I support what ambassador Hussam Zomlot said before he raised the flag outside the Palestinian Embassy in London.
At no point have any of the speakers in the UN General Assembly said anything about Palestinian’s right of return. See https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO53mLriGxS/?igsh=MXB1aGZiMGd4dXBmZQ==
A Palestinian state is about sovereignty. Albo’s Voice was not. Your equivalence is not just false but it belittles the Palestinian state. You might call the Beijing Declaration sop for the gullible but I have more respect for the strategic decisions of the Palestinian resistance than you seem to. There is a Palestinian government, it is not a hypothetical proposition. It even has a flag. It is supported by the fourteen factions of the Beijing Declaration. Palestinian sovereignty and self determination means the Palestinian government calls the shots, no matter what you and Remah think about it. You are either on the side of the Palestinian government or you are against it, there is no high moral ground in the middle or on the edges. Which side are you on?
Who will stop the genocide? Maybe nobody but the most likely force will be China taking a carrot approach rather than a stick. I reckon there are at least a half a million people left in Gaza. There are still four million in the West Bank. However in the worst case scenario that the surviving Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are totally exterminated, there are still millions of Palestinian diaspora refugees to take up citizenship in a sovereign Palestinian state. You used to talk about the resilience of the Palestinan people, don’t stop now.
You should have more respect for the flag of the Palestinian state if you are going to keep waving it around.
John T.,
What is sovereignty for people starving to death and their children being taken from them ?
There is no sovereignty or offer of it.
There was no mention either by the Chinese delegation in the UN that the Palestinian resistance would be included in the two-state solution, in fact quite the opposite.
What China is concerned about is the huge amount of oil that it gets out of the Gulf. See further explanation at China.
Ian Curr Editor
27 September w025
“What is sovereignty for people starving to death?” My short answer is sovereignty is the only way of feeding the people. Netanyahu and Tony Blair can’t do it, they are the genocide.
A longer answer – What is sovereignty for outback Aboriginal children today dying of preventable illness in much greater numbers than white Australia, or the Aboriginal children who choose suicide over dispossession and alienation? You can’t see the relevance of sovereignty there? What about when Australia was in a similar situation as Palestine, in the late nineteenth century when 90% of the population had been exterminated and nothing stopped the expansion of the new settlements? Was sovereignty relevant then? Now, 150 years down the track and the colonial project has been blasting ahead the whole time, is Aboriginal sovereignty relevant now? Whatever you think and despite the genocides, the Aboriginal land rights movement has been as committed as the PLO to land rights and self determination. There is probably a reason for that.
The West keeps talking about the PLO (PA) and various peace plans e.g. Beijing declaration, Cairo talks, and now Trump/Netanyahu peace plan but they are all excluding the resistance in Gaza and the West Bank.
When people talk about Hamas, they engage in misrepresentation or even disrepresentation.
The resistance had a strong critique of the Oslo Accord signed by Fatah, which turned out to be correct. Hamas signed a ceasefire on the 15th of January 2025. The Palestinian resistance complied with the ceasefire. The Hamas political leadership signed the deal, and the military resistance complied. Hamas didn’t take civilian hostages on October the 7th. That is clear. Zionists have consistently disrepresented that fact.
We simply do not know who committed the atrocities on October the 7th. I recommend people read ‘”Understanding Hamas and why this matters“’ by Helena Cobban. Maybe or hopefully then we can have a proper discourse.
Last week in the UN, Albanese insisted on excluding Hamas from all future government in Gaza and Palestine. This was stupid.
Misrepresentation or disrepresentation?
Hamas is not Al Qaeda or ISIS. That is dis-representation. Hamas has both advantages and defects of any government. Hamas began by running social programs, a bit like the Brotherhood in Egypt. They were not initially political. When they became political, the West insisted that Israel should be allowed to arrest them and kill them. They are still doing it. The United States and Britain participated in Israel’s bombing of Doha a couple of weeks ago.
Without the inclusion of all the Palestinian resistance, the Palestinian people will never have self-determination.
People have got to stop telling Palestinians what they should do, that is, to accept the two-state solution .
Our job is to stop our government from supporting Israel and genocide through the back door by going on with the lie that is the two-state solution. Two states are not viable. The only viable option is a Free Palestine, from the river to the sea.
Ian Curr
Editor
30 September 2025
Misrepresenting Hamas? Hamas signed the Beijing Declaration for unity to establish a Palestinian state, they declared they would not be part of the interim government and they endorsed the PA to control the interim government. Hamas’s only power base now is the hostages and their consistent demand in hostage negotiations has been for Gaza to be controlled by the PA. It was the Hamas negotiations delegation in Qatar that was attacked by Israel. Your suggestion that Hamas has not been included and might have a different trajectory than the PLO/PA is a misrepresentation of Hamas and denies the power of the unity of the Beijing Declaration. Netanyahu relies on the same misrepresentation of Hamas as rogue dissidents that cannot be controlled by a Palestinian state as the reason to smash Gaza. If you have any respect for Hamas (which I don’t) then you should at least acknowledge their part in Palestinian unity rather than reinforce Israel’s stereotype of rogue outliers of the resistance.
Without Hamas, Trump’s ‘peace plan’ is fake news. Like all the other wars Trump claims to have ended: Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Ukraine, Iraq, Yemen, and so on. Add this one to the list.
Beijing is not a party to the negotiations, Doha is. Trump helped Israel bomb Doha killing many Qataris.
It was Israel aided by the US and UK that bombed Doha and Yemen.
Meanwhile Israel has annexed the West Bank. The IDF and settlers are ethnic cleansing East Jerusalem and the occupied territories. Ten thousand people are in Israeli jails.
The PA has nothing to govern in Gaza, there is no infrastructure only people that are being starved and bombed by Trump and Netanyahu who threaten Palestinians with extinction.
The US negotiators behind Trump’s plan are mistaken about the Hamas movement. Hamas is not Al Qaeda or ISIS. That is dis-representation. Hamas has both advantages and defects, like any government. Hamas has a lot of members in the West Bank, in Gaza, abroad (in the refugee camps), and in Israeli torture camps. Hamas a very strong organizational structure. It is more collegiate than Fatah that is ruled by Abu Mazen. In fact, Hamas has been part of the Palestinian Authority since it participated in and won the 2005 PA elections. Their participation was encouraged by all governments in the West. Then came the coup. See https://workersbushtelegraph.com.au/2025/09/30/understanding-hamas-and-why-this-matters/
Hamas first joined the PA in 2005! They won that election.
Andrew Bartlett John T,
Update more attacks on flottilla …
The PLO adopted the two state solution in the 1990s and it remains their goal today. I am pretty sure they were aware of the history when they made that decision. Do you really think you know better than the PLO?
The PLO is the global voice of Palestinian sovereignty, even Hamas acknowledges them as such. Why does JFP oppose them? Israel and the US are trying to sabotage the UN General Assembly session of the two state solution, why is JFP ignoring this?
I have never been to a NAZI meeting either, that doesn’t mean I can’t criticise NAZIs. The most powerful thing any Australian can do is write a letter to their federal MPs expressing support for recognition of a Palestinian state. I have done this, which is as effective as all the noise in the street you have made.
Hello darkness, my old friend,
The genocidal fascists in the IDF have already destroyed the Zionist dream of a greater Israel.
So aren’t you assuming the state of Israel is still viable? I can’t see how it can survive the genocide.
Many of its citizens have left and the remainder are in open defiance of their government. Capital with a ‘K’ is already deserting. Even European governments e.g Spain are imposing sanctions. It’s sporting teams can’t play anywhere.
The two-state solution imposed on the Palestinian people during al Nakba is no longer a serious proposal.
Besides, who bothered to consult the resistance? There are 10,000 Nelson Mandela’s in Israeli jails. Nobody asked them. No one has asked the 2 million people in the process of being slaughtered.
Ian Curr,
I have no disagreement with your recitation of facts. The UN over decades has failed to act on its determinations about the illegality of actions by Israel. Netanyahu is acting on his personal need to keep his government together in the face of legal problems. Trump is motivated by nothing other than self-interest. He wants to redevelop Gaza as a real estate opportunity. I do disagree that Israel would crumble without continued military support from the US – it has used the tides of money to create a militarist state. The question is, “What can be done now?” I agree with pursuing the Australian government over the lies it has told claiming no weapons sales to Israel.
( https://www.facebook.com/share/17C6jaHNjn/ )
Hello Angela,
Is the genocide really about Netanyahu or Trump? I know this is what media pundits would have us believe, but really? That’s just a story. As you know, the genocide could not happen without the United States.
The Democratic Party supported the genocide or, more correctly, did not stop it. As a whole trove of books will now tell us, the Democratic Party is owned by the Israeli lobby. It was this contradiction that helped defeat the DNC in the US election. Of course, there are very powerful forces within the Grand Old party in favour of the genocide, not just MAGA, powerful Christian fundamentalist groups.
What is to be done? Well, if you accept it is US power that enables Israel to commit genocide then the US must be defeated. Half the US has already been defeated.
I agree with you that the Australian government must sanction Israel. Groups like Justice for Palestine Magan-djin have been pressuring the government to do just that. But more is needed.
A strategy employed in my youth was the moratorium. That encompassed more than protest marches. I remember there was always a buildup. The unions would be active around peace, some workers would walk off the job, and others would refuse to register for conscription.
There would be cultural events, concerts, art, and photographic displays building up to the moratorium marches. Students would join in.
This process repeated itself on three occasions in 1970 and 1971. It might take three or four days to build up to the big march.
Jim Cairns was the de facto leader of the peace movement. He later became treasurer and deputy prime minister, such was the power of the anti-war movement.
I know things are different now. For example, the unions are not as well organised, nor is the student movement. The Accord and government repression ensured this weakness.
However support for the protest marches has been growing over the past two years and given that the genocide is likely to continue by next May the movement may be strong enough to put a lot of pressure on employers by causing stop work, some workers may even walk off the job reducing union exposure to repression, fines, and deregistration.
There are a lot of people who are directly affected by the genocide because Israel has been determined to attack all other countries in the Middle East assassinating prime minister in Yemen political leaders in Lebanon and Syria and conducting open warfare at attempting to assassinate Iranian leadership.
The scale of its operation is greater than US imperialism in Indo-China in the 1960s and 70s.
Anyway just something to think about.
Little point in further discussion – it is what it is. All pretence of international law is gone. It has been stripped down to the reality of strength. No-one is going to take on the US over Palestine. What country would get on board? My son asked me the other day if I thought that if Vietnam had tried 10/11 would they have won the war. No way. All the US opposition to the war would have dried up in an instant. Absolutely flattening the country would have become acceptable. That’s why 7 October was stupid. The US remains the most powerful nation in the world. No country is storming in on behalf of Palestine. It cannot be resolved by further violence.
I hope your son doesn’t think the Palestinians had anything to do with 9/11. Likewise, I hope you don’t seriously think it was the anti-war movement that was responsible for the defeat of the US in Vietnam. Surely the Vietnamese people paid too heavy a price to defeat the US for you to think that.