Why the war in Gaza is an issue for hundreds of residents in our backyard

Kaat DeMaere started the Facebook group after moving to Bathurst, where she only knew her family.

Ms DeMaere's move to be closer to her mum isolated her from friends.

She needed to find a community to talk to about an issue she could not turn away from.

In 2023, Ms DeMaere joined the Melbourne-based Facebook group 'Mum's for Palestine', despite not being a mum. She said other communities in support of Palestine were made up depending on location, job, or even university.

Two years ago, the Central West NSW for Palestine group started off as a chat with six other people.

It now has over 300 members who live or have previously lived in the central western region, including Bathurst, Cowra, Dubbo, Orange, Lithgow, Mudgee and Blayney.

The members of the social media group are diverse. It includes people from regional and metropolitan areas, young adults, people over the age of 60, people of different religions and cultures, including Palestinians, First Nations and Wiradjuri people.

Ms DeMaere said the Muslim community in Bathurst, made up of about 100 families, joined in 2024 and she felt they were all united on "the same page for humanity".

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that Israel's war has killed 61,599 Palestinians and wounded 154,088 since October 7, 2023.

The number has been contested by independent researchers. The Lancet, a British medical journal, reports the health ministry's capacity to update electronic death records has "deteriorated under Israel's military campaign".

Ms DeMaere said despite not all members attending events, the social media group allows people invested in the area to network and "have a space to grieve".

The group offers something positive to the community and "allows people to share their concerns in the collective rather than at home in isolation".

"There's something pretty horrendous happening right now in the world and the reason we are being active in the Central West is because Australia is being complicit in the war under international law," she said.

Australia supplies parts and components to Israel's F35 fighter jets.

"It might not be happening in the Central West but we do have the right to communicate directly to the federal government," Ms DeMaere said.

On advocacy in the region, she said the group presented a 233-signature petition to Calare MP Andrew Gee in December 2023 calling on the reinstatement of aid funding and a ceasefire.

The group has had three rallies outside his office, and 30 people attended in September. Their events started off small, with seven people attending a rally, but now have up to 80 people attending.

Members of the group went to the March for Humanity protest, attended by over 300,000 people in Sydney on August 3.

In January 2024 the group had a meeting with the federal member and "did not want to create conflict, just start a dialogue".

Mr Gee said the meeting concluded with asking the group to come back to me with proposals on "how [they] could work together to promote peace in our local community".

He said the group has not come back with any proposals or meeting requests but his "door is always open".

Mr Gee voted against debating the Greens Party motion on recognising the state of Palestine, according to the We Vote for You forum on July 3, 2024.

Ms DeMaere said it was important for their voices to be heard by federal representatives because "we the people have elected these people in, we don't want to waste time protesting and be ignored".

The CW NSW Palestine group invites all community members to their upcoming events. They are marching as part of the National day of rallies for Palestine on August 24 from Alan Morse Park in Bathurst.

The group holds peaceful events, mostly based around education, and have not had any incidents with Bathurst police.