Rally in Provo calls for ceasefire in war between Israel and Gaza, support for Palestinians
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- A rally was held in Provo on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in support of the Palestinians being killed in Gaza in the armed war with Israel. The main goal for the rally was to call for a ceasefire against Gaza.
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- Luma, left, and her husband, Aaron, right, stand with their children, Leia and Sophie, during a rally for Palestine held in Provo on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. Luma was born in Jordan and her parents are from Palestine. She still has family members in Gaza and in the West Bank.
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- A hug is shared between two people during a rally in Provo on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, held in support of Palestinian civilians who have been killed in Gaza amid the armed war with Israel.
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- A sign reading “2,055 Palestinian children killed for revenge by Israel since October 7th. WE MUST STOP THIS” is held by a participants in a rally rally in Provo on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, held in support of Palestinian civilians who have been killed in Gaza amid the armed war with Israel.
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- A sign reading “Let your heart lead. Take action. Free Palestine” is held during a rally in Provo on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, held in support of Palestinian civilians who have been killed in Gaza amid the armed war with Israel.
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- A girl named Leia is pictured next to her mother, Luma, and her sister, Sophie, during a rally in Provo on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, held in support of Palestinian civilians who have been killed in Gaza amid the armed war with Israel.
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- People gather on Center Street and University Avenue in Provo during a rally for Palestine on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. Participants brought signs and flags to show their support for the people in Gaza being killed and rallied for a ceasefire against them.
Provo residents, Palestinians, Arabs and strangers from different backgrounds and ethnicities gathered together Wednesday on Center Street and University Avenue in Provo to rally for Palestine and call for a ceasefire in the latest violent conflict between Israel and Gaza.
Around 25 people including children participated in the peaceful rally by holding signs with words of support and love or waving Palestinian flags in the air in support of those affected by the war. As cars drove and people walked past the rally, many expressed their support with the honk of a horn, hollering and thanking them for being there.
The war between Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups and Israel began on Oct. 7. Hamas is the local government that controls the Gaza Strip, which is Palestinian territory.
According to The Associated Press, “The war, now in its 20th day, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday that more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed so far — more than three times the number killed in the six-week-long Gaza war in 2014. In the occupied West Bank, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids following Hamas’ surprise rampage on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.”
This fifth war between Palestine and Israel was started by a Hamas attack on Israel. Militants launched thousands of rockets and infiltrated Israel, killing over 1,400 people and injuring more than 4,500 according to ABC News.
The organizer of the rally for Palestine in Provo asked to not be named out of fear for their personal safety. He explained the reason the rally was for Palestine instead of Israel is because of the power dynamic, where Israel has a much larger power force which has caused significantly more damage to Palestine than Hamas has caused to Israel.
A different rally for Palestine was held Saturday in Salt Lake City at the Utah State Capitol, which several hundred people attended.
The organizer of Provo’s rally is a member of Utah Valley Mutual Aid, which promoted the event online. He was also previously a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is a “bipartisan, pro-Israel political action committee,” according to the group’s website. That’s where he learned about the dynamic between Israel and Palestine, especially in regard to their military powers, he said.
The organizer explained the rally was not intended as a show of support for the actions of Hamas and said he disagrees with what the group has done and their political beliefs. Rather, he said, he organized the rally to bring a different voice to the discussion about how many Palestinian women and children are dying and “the idea of collective retribution against Palestinians for something Hamas did. That’s a war crime. You can’t just go blow up children in response to terrorist activities. So yeah, I guess that’s my position: Children don’t deserve to die in response to another tragedy. It’s just not a reasonable position.”
The Gaza Strip is a piece of land 25 miles long which sits between Israel and Egypt. Over 2 million people live in the 140-square-mile piece of land, bordered by walls and fences put there by Israel, meaning people there do not have the option of leaving even while their homes are under attack. To compare, Provo is about 44 square miles and Orem is about 18 square miles.
Luma attended the rally and shared her story with the Daily Herald. She asked that her last name not be shared for personal safety.
A Palestinian, Luma was born in Jordan and came to Utah in 2009 to study peace and justice at Utah Valley University, where she met her husband, who grew up in Provo. They now live in Provo with their two children. Her parents are originally from Palestine, and some of her siblings were also born there. In 1967, when the war broke out between Israel and Palestine, her family was forced to flee. They arrived in Jordan as refugees which is where Luma was born, the youngest of her siblings.
She has family currently living in Gaza and inside the West Bank near Jerusalem. She has not been able to contact all of her family because many have lost power due to the war. However, friends, family and neighbors have been checking on each other and sending updates to Luma through WhatsApp. So far, none of her immediate family members have been killed. However, she said, citizens in the West Bank are experiencing aggression and have been killed as they show support for Gaza and Palestinians.
Luma said the conflict between Palestine and Israel has created a cycle of violence, which raises children with hatred for those who have killed their families.
Attending the rally was Luma’s way of standing up for Palestine and showing her support. “It’s just so hard on me, honestly, emotionally, that I feel like this rally is one way for me to release the stress and the hopelessness I feel,” she said. “I feel completely helpless. Like, I see little kids murdered and massacres happen.
“That is what I am hoping, just to cease fire, just to cease fire. I mean that the damage is already done. We just want to stop more collateral damage and unnecessary bloodshed. Gaza is destroyed. I don’t know what else needs to be done. Violence will always produce violence. It’s not the right response; never is it accurate.”
Those in Gaza reportedly are experiencing a lack of clean water to drink, food, fuel, electricity, shelter and other necessities.
“I hope peace will prevail for everybody because no one wants to see anybody get killed. Humanity is just, it’s a right and sacred regardless of your ethnicity or where you are and who you are. We hate seeing anybody die,” Luma said.
The rally’s organizer said the reason for the event was to call for a ceasefire. “We want the killing to stop,” he said.
He explained that for those in Utah attending or seeing the rally, he hoped for them to gain “an acknowledgement of (the fact that) we live in a political environment that is not sympathetic to Palestinians. So maybe we can gain a little more empathy from our population.”
Luma has a friend in Gaza who shared with her a text message she received from a neighbor whose home was bombed. The neighbor sent these messages to Luma’s friend. It was translated and shared with the Daily Herald by Luma.
The messages said:
“Ghaida, I’m under the rubble.”
“But I have my phone.”
“No one came to rescue us.”
The friend replied saying: “Oh my God.”
The neighbor continued:
“And I’m screaming.”
“I have no clue if the rest of my family are alive.”
“I don’t feel anything.”
“I have layal in my lap.”
“And on top of us are all the stones and the rubble.”
Luma said when she received this message from her friend, “I cried so much. It just broke me when I saw this.” She said she still feels depressed from seeing everything happening, and she feels helpless because she does not know what to do.
“If there’s something I could do for that lady — and I know many other ladies like her and families are trapped — I would do everything I can, but I know I can’t,” she said. “I’m limited to what I can do. I can just pray and just hope the ceasefire will happen and people will get the chance just to recover, to bury their dead, to mourn, you know, to attend to their wounded. … The death is just everywhere.”
Luma’s husband, Aaron, echoed her sentiment: “It really has been a challenge. It’s been difficult. Sometimes you feel helpless because you have a connection with the people over there and you want to be there and you want to be helping them, but you can’t. You’re over here in Provo, Utah.” He said each person has to find ways to release that stress and anxiety and make a difference in their own way.
For the couple, their way to help is to stay educated on what is going on in Gaza and share that information with others. “A group of people coming out here to rally for Palestine and show support means a lot,” Aaron said.
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