Clarissa O'Conor

While we may oftentimes be oblivious to how our existence on this land is predicated on the ethnic cleansing of indigenous peoples, we should not be blind to the fact that the same process is happening now.

Some classmates and I were eating breakfast before our next classes at a cafe right across the street and therefore had front-row seats, unable to leave the cafe for the duration of the assault.

According to the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, which keeps track of Israel’s destruction of Palestinian property, Israel has destroyed 527 Palestinian homes in 2013.

For some reason, we are conditioned to praise those who argue that an issue is too complex to take a position.

Some of my Palestinian friends and peers have applied multiple times for a permit to travel to Jerusalem, only to have Israel deny them multiple times.

It is a fallacy to think that you can be apolitical in an intensely political context and an intensely political world.

The discourse of empowerment makes us feel good about putting a Band-Aid on something while avoiding actually questioning our role in systematic racism, oppression and injustice.

By standing in solidarity with Palestinians in supporting the BDS movement and the nonviolent work they do every day to make Palestine/Israel a safer and more just place for all who live there, we can help make it stop.