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The protest is not against the individual Israeli filmmakers included in City to City, nor does it in any way suggest that Israeli films should be unwelcome at TIFF. However, especially in the wake of this year’s brutal assault on Gaza, protest is against the use of such an important international festival in staging a propaganda campaign on behalf of what the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and UN General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann have all characterized as an apartheid regime.

I left the farm inspired by the Nassars’ non-violent, non-confrontational approach to even the most naked oppression. Their kind of resistance makes sense at this stage in the conflict — after all, the Israelis have the most expensive, destructive toys that the military can buy, and judging by the ruinous state of the Gaza Strip, it’s obvious that they’re not afraid to use them. (When they heard the shelling of Gaza in the distance earlier this year, Daoud and his brother “put their frustrations to work” and built a new cistern.)

The only lasting option for peace, I feel, is one state for two peoples. Two states for two peoples, the current mantra, won’t work. It puts an impossible burden on Israel and won’t leave the Palestinians with anything approaching what we consider sovereignty. The only lasting solution, I feel, is a single state. Indeed, under occupation, Israel and the West Bank and The Gaza Strip have already been a single state since 1967, when Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territory began. It is much easier to go forward on the path both peoples are on today

You may not see us over the Separation Wall you built; you may not see us from the cockpits of your F-16s or from the inside of your tanks; you may not see us from the command and control center in the heart of Tel Aviv as you direct your pilots to launch their ton of munitions over our heads. Still, I can assure you of one thing. Until you wake up and demand that your leaders choose a different path, a path toward a life as equals and neighbors instead of trampler-on and trampled-on, you and your warrior sons and daughters will continue to see us — all of us, living and dead — in your nightmares, where we will continue to demand peace with justice.

I’ve been verbally and physically abused in Israel for defending the Palestinian people, but if that’s the price for standing up for the helpless and powerless then so be it.