(Photographed by Staff Photographer Mariah Horvitz)
Staff Writer: Connor Sullivan
Email: csullivan14@umassd.edu
A “Vigil for Palestine” was organized at the base of the Robert Karam Campanile last Thursday, February 22nd, providing people a chance to speak their minds on the ongoing conflict in the region.
Despite the cold and limited advertisement, the event attracted a sizable crowd of students, faculty, and other members of the UMass Dartmouth community. This crowd included notable figures such as Vice President of Student Affairs Kimberly Scott and Catholic Deacon for the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life Frank Lucca.
Under the flag of Palestine, they gathered to express a shared grief over the many civilian casualties of the Israel-Hamas war.
On October 7th, the militant Islamist movement Hamas launched a coordinated assault on Israel, resulting in almost 700 dead civilians and over 200 more captured as hostages.
In response, Israel declared war and began mobilizing hundreds of thousands of military reserve forces to the Gaza Strip with the goal of “bringing about the destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
The resulting war has left tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza dead, wounded, and displaced. National leaders and political organizations across the globe have condemned Israel for its actions, with many calling for a ceasefire in the region.
The vigil served as one such call for an end to the conflict, with many in attendance voicing similarly strong objections to the actions of the IDF and the continued military aid provided to them by the United States.
The event was organized a week prior by “a pretty loose, freely associated group of students who are pretty concerned about Palestine,” said Todd Deslauriers, a student who claims to be involved with the group. They aimed to create a visible call for a ceasefire on campus.
“This is a moment for us to show how we, in our minor discomfort, can be in solidarity with those who are truly suffering the incredible oppression of the Israeli Forces,” said Martin Bentz, outreach coordinator for the Islamic Society of Southeastern Massachusetts.
Bentz also condemned the violence committed by Hamas in a statement after the vigil.
“In Islam, people do not condone any of the acts attributed to Hamas, the violence, the assault on women and children,” he said, “So to see that that has happened is truly, truly tragic. But then the response, the slaughter. They’re literally slaughtering tens of thousands of truly innocent people. It’s just not compressible, it’s just not right.”
Bentz started the event by reading a list of nine-year-olds who had died in the war that Al Jazeera created. He claimed reading the complete list of casualties would’ve taken too long, so he specifically just read out the select youth. This reading lasted over ten minutes.
“Reading the names is just a small token of trying to capture the real humanity, the reality of the fact that these are real people with names, with family, history, and genealogy attached to those names,” said Bentz.
Afterward, a student named Gabriel Johnson stepped in to speak about his reasons for being there and his hope that the vigil could inspire further action.
“Even if it’s a sentimental effort, we here at least leaning on each other, to be just a little more human, to be in community, to be something bigger than death and apathy. Cause if we can’t even shed a tear for folks passing, if we can’t even acknowledge what’s right, fuck is we here for, really?” said Johnson.
While not an organizer himself, Johnson played a vital role in the event, being the first student to express his views and opening the floor for others to speak. Many took the chance and shared a similar desire to come together and spread awareness of the conditions of Palestinian civilians.
“It’s just really sad that on this campus we have to come together during times like this and we have to make it loud because it’s not loud enough,” said one student, adding, “I’m just glad that we can all come together as a community in some sense and mourn these lives.”
One notable student present was the Student Government Association Vice President, Gent Haviari. Haviari also expressed sorrow for the civilians killed in the conflict and his hope that a peaceful solution could eventually be reached.
“I think it’s incredibly unfortunate that it takes tragedy to bring us together, but I have hope that the future is bright, because the fact that all of us took the time to come out here today, it means a lot, and hope continues as long as people show up to believe it,” said Haviari.
Some in attendance compared the situation to other protests and anti-war movements. Some compared the situation to the 2020 BLM protests, with Johson saying, “For folks who was around we know it was not that long ago, 2020, folks was marching in the street, saying just a couple people’s names.”
One woman present said, “Something that’s coming back to me is our anti-war protests in Vietnam, and if you look at the US foreign policy you see that we are constantly at war against people that are way less prepared for it than we are.”
She also added, “We’ve got to call our elected officials. Call Markey, call Warren, call Keating, barrage them. It’s our money. It’s our tax dollars that are killing these innocent Palestinian people, so we have a responsibility to make our government stop doing what they’re doing.”
The event lasted for about an hour and a half. Once everyone had a chance to share their thoughts, Johnson thanked them for being present and concluded by reading the poem “We Shall Remain,” by Tawfiq Zayyad. The poem comes from a collection titled “Enemy of the Sun: Poetry of Palestinian Resistance,” organized by former UMass Dartmouth faculty member Naseer Aruri.
“I hope this spurs us to more than just standing. I hope this spurs us to make art together, to learn together, to share, break bread together, be human together. Cause we already showed by being here we can do that at least once, so why not twice, and a third, and another?” said Johnson.
Interested in reading more about the Israeli-Hamas War? Check out the Torch’s extended timeline of the conflict released on December 7th, 2023, the 60th day of combat.