By Oliver Mack, Sam Gauntt, Anastasia Merkulova and Sanya Wason
CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to better reflect assistant Arabic professor Anny Gaul’s teach-in.
White kites with rainbow tails soared over McKeldin Mall Tuesday as dozens of community members gathered to stand in solidarity with Palestine.
The “All Day for Gaza” event, hosted by this university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, is one of many this week to honor people killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Tuesday was the second anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which has launched a military offensive that has since killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza.
The death toll doesn’t include the thousands of people believed to be buried under the rubble, the Associated Press reported.
Many community members at this university said it’s important to continue advocating for Palestinian rights and remain united in their advocacy.
“We’re a very diverse set of people here, but we’re united by one thing, which is liberation of Palestine,” said Fouad Ayoub, an aerospace engineering doctoral student whose parents are Palestinian.
Tuesday morning, about a dozen organizers lined McKeldin Mall’s pathways with small, white flags stained with red to represent the Palestinians killed in Gaza. The end of the mall featured a large wooden wall painted to symbolize the towering concrete barrier separating the West Bank and Israel.
Throughout the event, students listened to speeches, connected through prayer and created art.
[UMD Jewish students reflect on 2-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel]
Sophomore bioengineering major Mohammad Abukhdeir told The Diamondback last week that as a Palestinian, it’s heartwarming to see the increased support for Palestinians across campus and the country. But he said he’s disappointed it has taken so long.
“We’re one step closer to getting our university to stop aiding and abetting in the genocide against my people,” Abukhdeir said. “The student movement is still going strong on campus.”
The Student Government Association passed a resolution last week urging this university and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation to implement boycott, divestment and sanction policies on institutions “complicit in the oppression of Palestinians.”
Zyad Kahn, one of the resolution’s co-sponsors, said last week that passing the bill was the bare minimum.
Kahn said students have an obligation to tell the university that “we’re not going to stay silent in this and that we want a change to be done.” The senior computer science major added that organizing is the most important thing community members can do.
“People have opened their eyes to the fact that there is a genocide going on,” Kahn said. “People want to call for that end, and it’s the bare minimum.”
In September, SGA also passed a resolution demanding that this university recognize Israel’s offensive in Gaza as a genocide. The resolution cited a United Nations committee report that called on Israel and countries around the world to “end the genocide” in Gaza and abide by international law, The Diamondback reported.
On the other end of the mall on Tuesday, several groups held a memorial to honor the 48 hostages held by Hamas since its attack on Oct. 7 two years ago. In it, Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took about 250 people hostage.
A metal fence surrounded both events on McKeldin Mall. Students had to go through metal detectors, get their IDs checked and have their bags searched to enter. University police and unarmed security officers patrolled perimeters of both events.
“Today’s expressive activities were planned in accordance with university policies and took place without incident,” this university wrote in a statement to The Diamondback. “UMPD and university officials met with event organizers to determine appropriate security measures, in consideration of the factors listed in our university policies.”
[UMD SGA passes boycott, divestment and sanctions resolution on Yom Kippur]
Several students who attended the “All Day for Gaza” event Tuesday criticized the university’s security measures.
Ayoub said the heightened security presence felt unnecessary and served as a “participant suppressant.” Students for Justice in Palestine events are often held at the McKeldin Mall sundial, he said, allowing students walking by to see what’s happening.
“But with this, it’s like the main events are boxed in,” he said. “It kind of suppresses people from just seeing what’s going on to some extent.”
Tuesday’s event also featured lectures from members of this university’s Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine chapter.
Assistant Arabic professor Anny Gaul hosted a teach-in about how “Israel has used starvation as a weapon of war against Palestine.”
“This phrase, ‘Starvation is a weapon of war’ has been repeated so many times that it begins to feel empty,” Gaul said. “But for Palestinians in Gaza, it’s their everyday reality.”
Gaul, a food historian, emphasized that starvation in Gaza did not just begin two years ago, but is rooted in conditions that have existed in the region for decades.
More than half a million people in Gaza face intense levels of hunger and many are at risk of dying from famine, according to the Associated Press.
The news outlet reported in early August that many countries, including France, the United Kingdom and Canada, recognized Palestine as a state. Nearly 150 of the United Nation’s 193 members have now recognized Palestinian statehood.
Daniela Colombi told The Diamondback last week that recognizing Palestinian sovereignty is a necessary step to achieve freedom.
The senior astronomy and physics major said the fight for Palestinian rights has changed dramatically in the past two years and people are finally acknowledging the violence that has existed in Gaza before Oct. 7, 2023.
“We have to be making the choice to actually get organized with other people, meet other people, go out to different protests,” Colombi said. “This is about all of us. This is about all of our futures.”
