Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al-Quds Governorate: Today, the spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque began in a public and dangerous manner, and we warn of a religious war in the region
The Ministry of Health in Gaza: This brings the total number of victims of famine and malnutrition to 175, including 93 children
The Ministry of Health in Gaza: Gaza's hospitals recorded six deaths due to starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, all of them adults
Informed sources to Al Mayadeen: A new chapter in relations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency will begin within the framework of the new law passed by Parliament
Informed sources to Al Mayadeen: The talks will focus on the political aspect, and the agency's delegation will not be accompanied by any inspector
Informed sources to Al Mayadeen: An IAEA delegation will visit Tehran next week to discuss mechanisms for implementing the parliament's law suspending cooperation with the agency
Palestinian media: Herds of Israeli settlers storm the al-Aqsa Mosque and perform Talmudic rituals in it
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: 15 martyrs were transferred to hospitals in the Gaza Strip in the past few hours as the Israeli occupation continues its aggression on the camps of the displaced
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: 38 were killed since dawn on Saturday, as the Israeli occupation army targeted aid seekers at distribution sites
Palestinian Red Crescent: One martyr, several injuries among our teams after the occupation bombed the association's headquarters in al-Amal neighborhood, west of Khan Younis.

Palestine Solidarity Goes Back to its Roots

  • Marion Kawas Marion Kawas
  • Source: Al Mayadeen English
  • 5 May 2023 15:27
  • 9 Shares
4 Min Read

The pro-"Israel" lobby is frantic about the clear anti-colonial and anti-Zionist basis of recent Palestine solidarity organizing, especially amongst students and youth.

  • x
  • Palestine Solidarity Goes Back to its Roots

On April 28-30, the Liberation Conference was held in Ottawa, Canada to examine strategies for Palestine solidarity work going forward in North America. The conference was organized by Masar Badil, who has already held several conferences in Europe, Brazil, and Lebanon and is working to harness the new energy amongst diaspora Palestinians.

The conference was attacked by Zionist lobby groups before the first speaker even stepped to the platform, based on a now familiar litany of fraudulent charges of “terrorism”. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs CIJA, along with the National Post newspaper, went on an inflammatory rampage, warning of some “shadowy terror-connected network devoted to Israel’s destruction”. 

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network was, and is, one of the main targets of these smear campaigns, and their international coordinator Charlotte Kates commented this way:

"Time and again, we see Zionist lobby organizations demanding the silencing, criminalization and persecution of those demanding justice for Palestine and refusing to allow Palestine to be excluded from discussions of social justice. We view the attacks on Samidoun as attacks primarily on the Palestinian prisoners themselves, attempting to isolate and extend their imprisonment through silencing and intimidation.”

The pro-"Israel" lobby is frantic about the clear anti-colonial and anti-Zionist basis of recent Palestine solidarity organizing, especially amongst students and youth. A clarity that often got lost after the signing of the Oslo Accords but is now being revived. 

Historically, Palestinian activists in Canada have always challenged the Zionist narrative. In October 1975, the leading pro-"Israel" paper in Vancouver at the time bemoaned the anti-Zionist organizing on the UBC campus, due to the upcoming visit of war criminal Moshe Dayan. That visit involved two local meetings, both of which were met with noisy protests; the banner that was done up for the events showed the clarity of the support movement at that time – “Support the Palestinian People’s Struggle against Imperialist-Zionist Aggression”.

  • Palestine Solidarity Goes Back to its Roots

Internationalism and indigenous solidarity were an integral part of the Palestinian support work in the 1970s and 80s. Some of the indigenous allies that joined the anti-Dayan protest were even berated by Zionists and lectured as to how they were ungrateful for the support given to them by pro-"Israel" groups. 

The report on Dayan’s speech at UBC by the student newspaper Ubyssey was instructive for those who believe that “liberal” or labor Zionists are somehow more benevolent towards Palestinians. In an answer to a question at the meeting, Dayan reportedly said: “The PLO is just a terrorist organization and we only deal with them by killing them”.

As far back as the 1940s, there was opposition to the Zionist project and support for Palestinian rights amongst Palestinians and Arabs in Canada. In 1947, Muhammad S. Massoud, President of the Canadian Arab Friendship League, told the Montreal Optimist Club that the Arab world “would ‘remember’ Lester B. Pearson and Justice Rand … who … did their utmost to impose upon Arabs the infamous partition scheme.”

Related News

Brazil will also go to the ICJ against 'Israel's' genocide of Palestine

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah: Lebanon’s lion roars the truth

Lester Pearson, later to become Prime Minister of Canada, played such a pivotal role in passing the UN Partition Plan that Zionists dubbed him the “Balfour of Canada”.

As we approach Nakba75, the Zionist project is in disarray, and the façade of its invincibility is gone. It is the sacrifices made by the Palestinian resistance over the last decades, and intensifying nowadays, that have brought this project and its international backers to today’s crisis.

Palestine solidarity work globally is recognizing these facts and is moving to center around three solid principles:

1.   Oslo and the two-state solution is dead and those still clinging to it are not serving the interests of the Palestinian people.

2.   Clarity on opposition to Zionism as a settler-colonial ideology and movement is essential.

3.   Support for the Palestinian struggle includes support for the legitimate armed resistance being waged as an integral part of the fight against occupation and settler-colonialism.

As noted by Samidoun’s Charlotte Kates: “It is very important for us all to stand together…and make clear that the Palestinian people's struggle -- for liberation, from the river to the sea -- and the Palestinian people's resistance by all means to achieve that end, is legitimate, justified and indeed, heroic. We will not be silent about the 5,000 Palestinians locked behind occupation bars because of Zionist demands. Instead, we must only get louder and clearer."

The Palestinian resistance movement has entered an era of new strength and optimism, and it is our job as solidarity activists to acknowledge and amplify that reality.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Palestine
  • BDS
  • Canada
  • Nakba
  • Palestinian cause
Marion Kawas

Marion Kawas

Writer; Member of Canada Palestine Association; Former Cohost of Voice of Palestine, Canada.

Most Read

All
Given ample indications Epstein was collating sexual blackmail material on powerful figures for intelligence agencies, comments made by Mirage's cofounder to Ynet take on a chilling character. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Zionist spies innovate AI sexual blackmail tech

  • Analysis
  • 27 Jul 2025
The right wing love affair with Zionism has ended

The right wing love affair with Zionism has ended

  • Opinion
  • 23 Jul 2025
Beyond the United States are critical leftist perspectives which underline the reawakening of the Arab left. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

The Reawakening of the Arab Left: Amman to Tunis, new voices challenging empire and capital

  • Opinion
  • 21 Jul 2025
What is the current state of Resistance forces, after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, the collapse of independent Syria and the ongoing attacks on Lebanon and Iran? (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

Regional Resistance after the Gaza Genocide

  • Analysis
  • 25 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
War on Iran

More from this writer

All
Why I hate Zionism and will never forgive its disciples

Why I hate Zionism and will never forgive its disciples

Why I hate Zionism and its backers more than ever!

Why I hate Zionism and its backers more than ever!

Divesting from Genocide!

Divesting from Genocide!

We will never stop advocating for Palestine!

We will never stop advocating for Palestine!

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS