Amnesty International’s Toowoomba peace for Palestine vigil

Holding up Palestinian flags and signs, a group of Toowoomba residents stood by the busy corner of Hume and Margaret streets showing support for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Adorned in red, white, green and black a group of around 80 people holding Palestinian signs and flags stood at the Hume and Margaret Street corner of Queen’s Park and showed their support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Picture: Christine Schindler

Adorned in red, white, green and black a group of about 80 people holding Palestinian signs and flags stood at the Hume and Margaret St corner of Queen’s Park to show their support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The vigil, organised by Toowoomba’s Amnesty International Group comes as the Israeli Defence Force plans a ground invasion of southern Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, despite the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying the operation “risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardising its long-term security and standing.” 

According to the Hamas-run health ministry more than 30,000 Palestinians, half of which were children, have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since Hamas’ shocking attack on October 7, 2023.

More than 1100 Israelis were killed, according to the IDF, while more than 240 hostages taken.

For Zainab Ibdah, who moved to Australia in 1995 as a skilled immigrant and settled in Toowoomba in 2004, the fresh attacks only bring back painful memories of her family’s experience fleeing from Palestine to Jordan, and growing up in Irbid, about 25 km from Golan Heights.

During Ramadan in 1968 when she was 9 years old, Ms Idbah said she watched a “horrific attack” in Irbid where “many from our neighbourhood died”.

Zainab Idbah at the Hume and Margaret St corner of Queen’s Park and showing her support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Saturday, March 23, 2024. Picture: Christine Schindler

“It was a scary nightmare for me as a child, and of course for everyone else, because we didn’t know if we will be next,” she said.

“I’m here to demand our government to do better and put pressure on Israel for permanent ceasefire in Gaza and stop arming Israel,” she said.

Members of the Islamic Society of Toowoomba were also there to show their support for a ceasefire.

“A ceasefire is needed, because they are really in the situation where they cannot think whether the next minute they are they will be alive, let alone their food and their basic needs,” president of the society Mainul Islam said.

Committee member Nazreen Yooseef said it didn’t matter what religion you came from, it was about showing kindness.

Adorned in red, white, green and black a group of around 80 people holding Palestinian signs and flags stood at the Hume and Margaret St corner of Queen’s Park and showed their support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Saturday, March 23, 2024. Picture: Christine Schindler

“We are teaching kindness to our children, so how are they going to see me teaching kindness when we don’t show kindness to our neighbours who shared their lands with us?” she said.

Humanitarian organisations have also warned of mass starvation in Gaza, with significant food and other essential supplies blocked from entering.

While discussions continue around a truce or ceasefire, no agreement has been reached.

Earlier this month, Toowoomba’s Groom MP Garth Hamilton joined a delegation to Israel in a week-long trip to the region on behalf of the Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council.

Mr Hamilton said while he supported Israel, he held concerns about its conduct since the initial attack by Hamas.

“I remain a staunch supporter of Israel’s right to not just defend itself but make sure an attack like this doesn’t happen again,” he said.

When Mr Hamilton was asked about the death toll in Gaza, he said the political landscape had “significantly changed” compared to last year.

“It’s important to understand their views and to make sure I’m seeing all the facts on the ground,” he said.

“It’s hugely complex, I’m under no pretence that it can be made simple (but) one would hope that a peaceful solution can be reached.”