AUSTRALIANS FOR PALESTINE

STOP THE WALL CAMPAIGN – AUSTRALIA

9 November 2006

Australians for Palestine took part in a Stop the Wall rally today and contributed an amazing mock wall. The wall was assembled before the rally began and attracted many curious onlookers who soon learned that this wall was only a third of the height of the actual wall being illegally built by Israel in the West Bank.

The 3 metre-high wall had been designed and constructed by three Palestinian brothers – Nasser, Moammar and Kamahl Mashni and then re-assembled with the help of Amin Abbas, Joe Lui and Robert Martin. The wall was built weeks before, using cardboard boxes which were ingenuously held together with rope and attached to specially-built wooden stands. The boxes had then been sprayed with concrete-coloured paint creating a perfect backdrop for photos of the actual wall as well as fact sheets about its size, length, how it encroaches on Palestinian land and how it divides and destroys Palestinian communities and neighbourhoods. These facts were also available in the information brochure designed by Dora McPhee and was handed out to passers-by in the busy lunchtime traffic in the heart of Melbourne. The wall was then dissembled and the boxes flattened and packed away for future displays.

Australians for Palestine planned this wall as part of a multi-pronged awareness-raising campaign for Palestine in Australia. Its other activities involve a concentrated media campaign, lobbying members of parliament and public education programs.

The rally was organised by the Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network.

Sonja Karkar
Australians for Palestine