Pro-Palestine rallies march on in Sydney, Perth amid fragile ceasefire

Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters are set to continue to march two years after Israel began a military offensive in Gaza, as momentum for a lasting ceasefire slowly builds.

Despite the NSW Court of Appeal prohibiting a rally at the Sydney Opera House, the Palestine Action Group is urging supporters to keep political pressure on the Australian Government to sanction Israel.

Protesters will march from the weekly city centre gathering point of Hyde Park and head down to George Street to Belmore Park on Sunday in an alternative route agreed with police.

A similar rally will also be held in Perth.

The demonstrations come as a group of Australian activists detained in Israel for seeking to deliver aid to Gaza amid a naval blockade have returned home.

Juliet Lamont, Hamish Paterson and Abubakir Rafiq arrived in Sydney after more than a month at sea with the Global Sumud Flotilla.

They expressed their desire to participate in Sunday’s demonstration.

Medical doctor Bianca Webb-Pullman landed in Melbourne still wearing her grey prison tracksuit and rushed into the arms of her family.

The activists recounted being tortured, kicked, punched and spat on by Israeli prison guards while also being denied clean drinking water, medication and access to a lawyer during their detention at Ketziot prison in the Negev desert.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Government raised their welfare and maltreatment with Israel, which has denied allegations of abuse.

“The Australian government warned against attempts to breach the naval blockade ... because of risks of safety to Australians,” she told a Senate estimates hearing.

The Australian contingent said they were among the last group of foreign nationals to be released and deported to Jordan.

Israel’s Government on Friday ratified a ceasefire brokered by the United States with the Palestinian militant group Hamas clearing the way for it to stop its military assault on Gaza.

“This ceasefire, if honoured, may bring a desperately needed halt to the killing but it is not peace,” Australian Federation of Islamic Councils President Rateb Jneid said on Saturday.

“True peace cannot come without justice. The world must not mistake silence for peace, nor rubble for resolution.

“Gaza’s wounds will not heal through denial or diplomatic convenience.”

The Palestine solidarity movement will also maintain its public campaign in Perth in the wake of the ceasefire.

Friends of Palestine WA says a planned rally will go ahead on Sunday, as part of ongoing global mobilisations demanding justice and freedom.

“We do not trust Israel and we do not trust Donald Trump,” it said.

“Previous ceasefires were broken by Israel and the genocide has continued apace.”

Humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders warned that the people of Gaza left to survive amid the ruins of what was once their home, faced immense medical, psychological and material needs.

“This ceasefire must be accompanied by an immediate massive and sustained scale-up of aid into and across the Strip,” it said in a statement.