Gathering on the sidewalk at Chapters on Ste-Catherine Street this past Jan. 13, a group of about 20 people worked for several hours handing out leaflets and explaining to pedestrians that entering the bookstore contributes to the Israeli Defence Forces military expeditions.

The group, Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, was trying to bring awareness to their newly launched “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” campaign.

At the centre of the groups’ argument is an organization, created by Chapters and Indigo owners Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz, called the Heseg Foundation for Lone Soldiers.

The foundation is essentially a bursary program for non-Israeli citizens who decide to emigrate and work for the country’s military, the IDF.

Through Heseg, scholarships and other forms of support are offered to volunteers, with an annual distribution of up to three million dollars.

Participants in the demonstration on Saturday believe that Chapters, via Heseg, is perpetuating a violent state-military apparatus in Israel and furthering the array of injustices rife within occupied Palestine.

The CAIA is an international organization that was created in 2005 in response to a call out from Palestinian civil society groups for a coordinated network of support.

The boycott campaign arose out of an October 2006 conference in Toronto, which brought together over 600 people from different social and political backgrounds and individual groups located throughout the world and was planned as a “practical and powerful” method of acting in global solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Organizer Ehab Lotayef stated that "the IDF is one of the main problems for Palestinians, and with Heseg funding going to many of its members, Chapters and Indigo Books are contributing to this problem."

The IDF has been condemned repeatedly by groups such as Amnesty International, who accuse the army of being guilty of war crimes, in particular for last summer’s bombing of Lebanon. Within Israel, the IDF is the physical force behind the infrastructure of the occupation.

Most recently in Gaza, on the pretext of the capture of two Israeli soldiers the IDF has been conducting a siege for several months, interrupted frequently by raids that often have significant casualties.

According to the Israeli human rights organization BíTselem there have been 1,496 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by the IDF since 2004, and over 400 minors held as political prisoners.

Also present at Saturday’s protest was a member of the Montreal group Palestinian and Jewish Unity. Darell Legge did not mince words, saying "the policies of Israel are violently Zionist."

In regards to Heseg he said the organization has in essence "put out an international call for people to come to Israel, take part in the abuse of human rights and be rewarded for it."

Over the course of the picket, demonstrators attempted to persuade people not to enter the bookstore and to end their patronage of the business until its owners end their funding of the Heseg Foundation’s Lone Soldier program.

The participants were clear that their tactics were and are to remain non-violent and lawful, and there were no problems with the police waiting nearby.

The CAIA plans to continue focusing on Chapters and building momentum for this part of their campaign. Lotayef said they would return to the picket lines—possibly on a bi-weekly basis.

Other actions and targets will also be laid out as part of their larger effort. Similar events have also taken place outside Indigo-owned bookstores in Toronto.

The CAIA is compiling a list of specific products made in Israel to be part of the boycott.

The Ontario chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and numerous community groups throughout the country has officially endorsed CAIA’s campaign.

Campaign participants refer to similar strategies of international support, which contributed to the downfall of the South African apartheid regime and hope to see the same eventual success in the case of Israel and Palestine.