Palestinians have lived in the land west of the Jordan River for thousands of years.
Until the rise of Zionism in the late nineteenth century, Muslim, Christian and Jewish Palestinians lived together as one community, largely at peace.
In 1948, the creation of the state of Israel resulted in over 700,000 Palestinians becoming internally displaced or refugees in neighbouring countries. In 1967, an additional 300,000 Palestinians became refugees, some for the second time. To this day they and their families live under the UN refugee charter and resolutions and have the right to return to their homes. Many of these people are living in the West Bank and Gaza, are stateless in neighbouring countries or spread throughout the world as the Palestinian diaspora.
For those living in the occupied territories and the Gaza Strip and West Bank, house demolitions, settler and military violence, blockades of food, fuel and medicines, are everyday occurrences. Gaza has been under blockade by Israel for 17 years.
More information? See
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN)
The Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA)