"Aboriginal people feel so strongly about this place called Palestine, as we see our history reflected back to us," according to Friends of Palestine (Rubibi/Broome) co-founder Kimba Benjamin.
A proud Yawuru, Bardi and Kija woman, Ms Benjamin organised Sunday's Broome March as part of a national protest against Israel's violent assault on Gaza.
"We see in Palestine how colonisation has destroyed so much of the land, people and culture, and the big wheels of systemic injustices that keep being perpetrated," she told National Indigenous Times.
More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in October 2023, following Hamas' attack inside southern Israel which resulted in more than 1,100 deaths and the capture of over 200 Israeli hostages.
Nearly one-third of those killed in Gaza are under 18, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Many thousands more are missing.
The Israeli government disputes the tally, claims nearly 20,000 Hamas fighters are among the dead, and reports 454 Israeli soldiers killed.
A UN-backed body declared famine in parts of Gaza, including Gaza City, on August 22, calling it "entirely man-made"—a characterisation Israel denies.
In July, two leading Israeli human rights organisations, B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, published reports which concluded the Israeli government is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
On Sunday, pro Palestine chants cut through the hiss of coffee machines and acoustic guitars as more than 100 marchers headed for Broome's Courthouse Markets.
Dr Lilly Brown, a proud Gumbaynggirr woman and another co-founder of Friends of Palestine Rubibi/Broome, said she was not surprised by ongoing colonial violence amid Israeli settler expansion and de facto annexation in the occupied West Bank.
"Settler colonisation is not actually like what many of us have been taught, an event that happened in the past," Dr Brown said.
"First Nations people resonate with Palestinian people because they are trying to survive in the face of colonisation.
"We are seeing our Palestinian brothers and sisters being wholly dehumanised."
Colonisation of Palestine long predates the post October 7 2023, war. According to historian Rashid Khalid, Britain's 1917 Balfour Declaration was "a quintessentially colonial proclamation … of its intent to replace an Indigenous people with another".
The UN's 1947 partition paved the way for the creation of Israel in 1948. This was followed by what the Palestinians call the "Nakba" (catastrophe), when more than half the Palestinians were displaced, and hundreds of towns were destroyed. Thousands of Palestinians had already been violently displaced, from areas including Jaffa, in the lead up to the establishment of Israel in May, 1948.
In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem following the Six-Day War. The following UN Resolution 242 sidelined Palestinian rights, reducing them to a "refugee problem," according to Mr Khalid.
At the end of 2023 Australia signed a joint statement on settler violence in the West Bank.
Signatories also included the UK and Canada.
It stated, in part: "We reiterate our position that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law."
However, Ms Benjamin and Dr Brown believe statements such as these, as well as the Australian Government's recent announcement that it will recognise the State of Palestine, don't go far enough.
The group is calling for:
• The immediate end of Australian exports of weapons and weapon components to Israel, in compliance with a ruling by the International Criminal Court;
• The sanctioning of Israel;
• The expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Aimon, and the closure of the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv; and
• Immediate entry of aid and humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
