As an international outcry rings out over Donald Trump’s proposed US push into Gaza, Australia's Palestinian community will again take to the streets to show its fury.
Palestinian supporters say the president’s proposal amounts to ethnic cleansing and criticised Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for “legitimising” the plan.
Mr Trump suggested the US should take over, own and redevelop the destroyed Gaza Strip while Palestinians are relocated elsewhere.
The White House later walked back some of the comments and said no decision had been made about sending in US troops.
At Sydney Town Hall on Friday, the Palestine Action Group will protest the president’s declaration, along with the “persecution, slander and silence” from Australia’s politicians and media.
“Trump has just announced the tearing up of the ceasefire deal, and a continuation of the slaughter … we have said all along Israel's real goal in Gaza was always genocide and the expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland,” they wrote on their Facebook page.
“The despicable Australian political and media establishment are refusing to call Trump's statements what they really are; calls for genocide.”
On Thursday, Mr Dutton described the president as a “big thinker and a deal maker”, before later clarifying he still supported a two-state solution.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said the comments “legitimised” Mr Trump’s plan and treated Gaza like a bargaining chip.
International law experts have suggested a US takeover of Gaza would not be legal as the use of force is prohibited.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has avoided weighing in on the president’s proposal but reiterated Australia’s support for a two-state solution.
"Australia's position is the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security in their own states and that remains our position," he told Nine's Today Show on Thursday.
Australian Jewish groups have widely rejected Mr Trump's proposal to relocate the Palestinian residents and argued their decision to stay or leave Gaza is theirs to make.
