The weekly vigils in front of the Israeli consulate building in Torontooffer opportunities to connect with the public on priority issues.Ongoing Israeli attacks on non-violent anti-Wall protesters, includingthe arrests of Mohammad Othman, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, and Jamal Juma';,the continuing siege of Gaza, and the destruction of Palestinian homesin East Jerusalem have been a focus of handouts at recent vigils.

When Palestinian and Jewish queer activists protested a queer tourismconference in Tel Aviv back in mid-October, we handed out the jointstatement condemning the International Gay and Lesbian TravelAssociation (put together by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid inToronto (QuAIA), Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!), IJAN.and Queer BDS activists from Israel). Since late July 2009, theCoalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), IJAN-Toronto, and othershave been demanding an end to the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls atthe Royal Ontario Museum. The ROM is directly across the street fromthe Israeli consulate building, the location of the IJAN vigils. Whilewe haven't been able to get the ROM to stop the show, it has beenuseful as a way to engage the public on the issues. We also stand as avisual counterpoint to the ROM's obvious collusion with the IsraeliAntiquities Authority. When the ROM held a brief showing of TenCommandments, we responded with a few commandments of our own. The ROMhas denied any link with the Brand Israel campaign of Israeli ConsulGeneral Amir Gissin. However, they recently offered ROM members achance to enter a contest for a free trip to Israel. Hmmm.

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In late October, members of IJAN-Toronto and Women in Solidarity with Palestine (WSP) travelled to Ottawa to meet with Libby Davies, New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament for Vancouver East, British Columbia. A primary purpose of our meeting was to thank Ms. Davies for her support of the IJAN-Canada petition addressed to the Canadian government, demanding a change in government policy regarding Palestine. We had featured the petition at the Friday vigils for several weeks, gathering more than 500 signatures. Ms. Davies read out the petition in parliament on three occasions, thereby enshrining it in the Hansard, the official parliamentary record.

From August 7 to August 14, 2009 Ms. Davies was part of a delegation to Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. The purpose of their mission was to assess the humanitarian situation and to report back to the Canadian government and the people of Canada. In addition to Ms. Davies, the delegation included Richard Nadeau (Bloc Québécois), and Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Liberal Party), as well as three members from the organization Code Pink. Based on their experiences during the mission, they produced a report and made seven key recommendations to the Canadian government, urging implementation:

"To the Government of Canada and our fellow Members of Parliament, we ask that you consider and respond to our recommendations. We invite open and measured debate on our recommendations and urge take-up and progress on the issues contained in this report." Click here to read the full report and its recommendations, and then click on the hot link (in pink) in the first line.