By Pragash Pio

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people is symbolic of the failings of the current model of international politics. Even though the international community has called on Israel to respect and honor the basic rights of the Palestinian people, Israel has simply ignored the international outcry and gone on bombing, ethnically cleansing, and starving the Palestinian people with impunity.

As the inaction of countries like the United States and Canada to Israeli crimes has shown their complicity in the situation, ordinary people and activists have decided to bypass their governments altogether and directly confront the cruelty of Israel’s Apartheid state.

There already is a large body of research and analysis of the special relationship between Israel and the United States. Academics such as Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein have outlined how Israel, as a colonial base of American Imperialism, dominates the Middle East and its oil fields. Israel’s military and economy are heavily subsidized by America so that Israel can play the role of regional “guard dog” for American oil interests.

In return Israel is given free reign to attack, obliterate, and occupy Arab and Palestinian lands at will. Palestinians and their supporters have come to realize that they can’t depend on a fair resolution from the political negotiations controlled by the very powers that are funding Israel’s attack on the Palestinian people.

This realization has led to a shift to direct international solidarity actions such as the Boycott-Divestment-Sanction (BDS) campaign, Sea & Air Freedom Flotillas, and preparations for a unilateral declaration of Independence at the UN.

These actions directly confront the different facets of Israel’s illegal practices: BDS attempts to obstruct the illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land; the Freedom Flotillas attempt to break the illegal siege of Gaza; and the coming unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood hopes to finally readdress the dispossession and Apartheid faced by the Palestinian people.

All this has come at a high price though. 9 activists of the first Freedom Flotilla were killed by an Israeli commando raid last year.  Rachel Corrie was killed trying to prevent the bulldozing of Palestinian homes in Gaza. Canadian members of the Freedom Flottila 2 have been arrested in Greece. Palestinian solidarity activist and radio host Jesse Zimmerman describes how “[Palestine is] the only humanitarian crisis in the world where people actively try to shut your freedom of speech down.

Whether it be University administrators canceling Israeli Apartheid Week, government “representatives” condemning pro-Palestinian activism, or hardcore Zionist activists harassing you and making threats against you or your family…” Krisna Saravanamuttu, President of York University’s Federation of Students (YFS), was attacked nationally and internationally when YFS passed a motion condemning Israel’s bombing of Gaza schools in the 2009. There was even a failed attempt at impeaching the popular YFS President. Saravanamuttu’s responds that the experience of oppression that Palestinians face is one that is shared by his own Tamil community and other oppressed minorities the world over. Palestine is a symbol of hope, and the growing solidarity movement represents a turning point in achieving justice the world over.