We must do what the international community will not.

The Goldstone report has landed with a thud. Israel was trashing it before it even came out, and did all it could to stop it from even being carried out. The US immediately called it biased and refused to even consider the allegations of Israeli war crimes contained within it. And now Israel has twisted the arm of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to ensure that the Goldstone report's findings will not be considered by the United Nations until at least next year. Justice delayed is justice denied.

Imagine being a Gazan right now. Not an ounce of concrete has entered the Strip. Not one of the three billion dollars that the international community has materialized. Palestinian children are returning to bombed out schools while Israel blocks the UN from reconstructing those schools or even replenishing basic educational supplies. Food, water, electricity are all in short supply due to the ongoing and completely inhumane siege. And now, to add another insult to the injuries of the past 60 years, every single governing body capable of pushing for justice for Gazan civilians has caved to Israel's bluff. Even the Palestinian Authority has abandoned the people it is supposed to serve, dropping a petition to investigate war crimes for the possibility of finally securing a new cell phone service. This is the height of cynicism.

But one could also imagine being a West Bank citizen right now. 5 years after it was ruled illegal, the Apartheid Wall is still being built, still stealing land and water resources, still uprooting olive trees to be sold to Israelis, from discriminatory Tel Aviv to illegal Ariel. The night raids continue unabated, people in wheelchairs are teargassed, non-violent protesters are shot and killed or jailed and tortured, and an entire population is denied the basic freedoms of movement and work and democracy and dignity that we in the west take for granted every day. The acceptance of non-violence has produced no gains, Fatah and the PA have, through their countless capitulations, earned none of the rewards they promised for Palestinians, the Obama administration that had built up such hope with its speeches and phone calls and visits to Cairo, has proven to be as spineless as its predecessor was mendacious. Justice, or even an easing of injustice, is nowhere in sight.

So is it any wonder that people are increasingly frustrated? Israel certainly hasn't changed its behavior, the PA has exposed itself as Israel's subcontractor, international governments have made no effort to help Palestinians, and the United States has literally squashed the possibility of achieving justice through international law. All the regular avenues of justice are closed. Where else is there to turn? Who will stand up for Palestinian rights?

It grows more apparent with each passing disappointment that the only way to put pressure on Israel is to boycott its products and institutions, divest from its companies and financial institutions, and sanction its government. People of conscience around the world, who see all preferred avenues of justice slammed shut in front of them, must now put their money where their mouths are. Not a dollar to support the bombing of civilians in Gaza. Not a dollar to support the blockade, not a dollar to shoot fishermen off the coast, not a dollar to arrest children and torture adults. Not a dollar to enable occupation, land theft, illegal walls and uprooted olive trees or to support discrimination, Jim Crow laws, and the oppression of minorities.

We must not treat Israel as a legitimate democratic state until it becomes one by ending the occupation, accepting its refugees, and engaging in meaningful democratic reforms.