DEARBORN — A group of about 75 people gathered at the steps of Dearborn City Hall on Monday, December 27 in remembrance of the more than 1,400 victims, most of them civilians, of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza on the second anniversary of the attacks.

Community members take part in a vigil to remember the more than 1,400 victims of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead on the second anniversary at City Hall in Deaborn. PHOTO: Nafeh AbuNab

Filmmaker Adam Shapiro of the Free Gaza movement, whose wife Huwaida Arraf was on board a ship in the May 2010 aid flotilla attacks against activists by Israel, served as the main speaker on the evening. Arraf, a University of Michigan-Ann Arbor graduate, was scheduled to attend but couldn’t make it due to illness.

Shapiro spoke about his experiences in Gaza and the continuing need for humanitarian aid for an area that is still dealing with the deadly consequences of the war, during which illegal weapons such as white phosphorus were used to devastating effect against the local population.

Other activists also spoke at the rally while candles were lit and carried by participants to symbolize the lives lost. Names of children killed in places such as refugee camp and in their homes by airstrikes and in the streets by soldiers, including one who was shot in the back, were then read one-by-one near the doors of city hall while their names were written on posters and shown to the crowd.

Student Nour Saker, who is Palestinian, helped organize the event with other metro Detroit students.

She talked about the importance of hosting such events to keep the memory of those killed in Palestine and those who continue to suffer fresh.

“As the largest concentration of Arabs and Muslims in the country, sometimes I think we are silent and blinded, you look at Arabs in general and sometimes they just act like nothing’s going on and that’s why we have to continue to raise awareness,” she said.

Saker, a Palestinian American who has lived in the U.S. her whole life, believes that the local community needs to do more to fight for Palestinian rights and to prevent more attacks from occurring, as many including University of Michigan-Ann Arbor professor Juan Cole, who cited a Norwegian paper’s Wikileaks revelations, believe could happen soon.

“Some people say that everyone in Dearborn already knows what’s really going on but I don’t believe so because if they did, they would stand up,” Shaker said.

One student who attended the event, Sarah Bazzetta, said that the issue should be a universal one.

“To me, this is a human rights issue and being human, this impacts me in a big way, especially when I see the way the Gazans are being treated as well as the Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel.”