The intifada does not only embody the will of a colonized people to put an end to the rule of an implacably and cynically cruel occupation. The intifada should not be merely viewed as a manifestation of discontent towards the hopelessly corrupt national elite who rule parts of Palestine. This intifada, the culmination of 54 years of resistance to occupation, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, is a spearhead of the world's struggle against imperialism. Its outcome will partially be determined by what the masses of North America do about it.

It has been eight months since the current revolt in Palestine has erupted. The goals of this intifada are clear: statehood or no statehood, regardless of what the national proxies say, this is essentially a revolt over land: a land that has been parcelled out on the basis of ethnicity, the fertile expanses and water sources to the Jewish people, and to the Palestinians: as little land as possible, as little resources as possible,or, better yet, no land.
There are millions of Palestinian refugees around the world, expelled in waves by Zionist forces, refused return to their homeland. The process of ethnic cleansing has not abated, thousands have been rendered homeless in this intifada, hundreds have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers.
What to explain the apathy on part of North American activists? Why has the Palestinian struggle been assigned a minor role in discourses on anti-imperialism and international revolution and liberation?
There is, ofcourse, the racist ideology that has permeated north American society, which view the Arab and Muslim world as a corrosive, threatening force that must be kept in check by the armies and agents of "progress" and "democrocy". The perpetuation of this worldview is a matter of course, because this ideology serves the interests of the American and Canadian imperial governments nicely. So does the apathy of their citizens, which ensures that their contradictions, their support for a colonial and expansionist government, will not be brought up for debate.
An illustration of the false humanism of the US's (and its dismal luetenant Canada) is the discourse around the right of return of Palestinian refugees. It is a contentious issue, they will have us know, becuase the return of over 3,000,000 Arab refugees will compromise "the Jewish character of Israel." The fact that Israel would not have been able to achieve a Jewish majority, enabling it to have a "Jewish character", without the expulsion of the then Arab majority is not touched on.
As it is, and as admitted by Israeli politicians, Israel has only been able to recieve the ludicrous milatary and economic aid from the US (72 billion US as of last year) by acting as a "watchdog" for US interests in the Middle Easts. Among these interests are the massive oilfields, reckoned by a US statesman to be "the greatest material prize in history." The oil fields constitue a veritable major vein to the industrial world. This prize must be protected against the most dangerous competitors out there: the Arab people, who are stifled under proxy regimes. The role that Israel has maintained is to ensure that the "threat of radicalism" in the Arab world is held at bay. It has carried out this role, in its strategic and military support to reactionary regimes such as the Hashemite regime, and formerly the Shah (Israel has not limited its role in crushing liberation movements to the Middle East; its support to Mobutu in Zaire, apartheid South Africa, the terrorist contras in Nicaragua, the reactionary forces in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras is notorious).
Most importantly, the Palestinian revolt must not be viewed as some experiment, where we will all sit back and watch as it unfolds, to pass judgement after it is all over. The palestinian revolt will ultimatly fail, as many other national liberation movements have ultimatly failed, heralding instead a neo colonial society, for precisely the same reason: the apathy of the working classes in the imperialist countries, some of whom most stupidly assert that this revolt has nothing to do with us; it is a local issue.
If any one is interested to contribute towards a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian problem, s/he can reach me at my email. There is a lot of mobilizing to be done, and a dismal lack of awareness to be combatted.