Hamtramck City Councilman Khalil Refai unveiled Palestine Avenue on Thursday afternoon after the City Council passed Resolution 2023-184 in December to rename a section of Holbrook street as a symbolic gesture of remembrance and support to the people of Gaza.

The honorary Palestine Avenue is located between Buffalo and Saint Aubin Streets. Dozens of community members and leaders showed up to the ceremony to see Hamtramck be the first city to honor Palestine in this way.

Mayor Amer Ghalib said Hamtramck is honored to be the first city to pass a ceasefire resolution in October and the first to pass a resolution to name a street Palestine after October 7. He also said the city is also honored to have passed the Shift the Money resolution asking for funds to be moved from the U.S. military budget to social services in February.

“This (street) is just a symbolic gesture to show our support and the community’s support for a free Palestine,” he said. “Hamtramck cannot stand neutral during moral conflicts… We stand with peace and justice when there is oppression. We stand with humanity against brutality and barbarism. We stand with international law against occupation. We stand with the truth against lies and deception. And we stand with ceasefire against genocide.” 

A dozen community leaders and elected officials spoke at the event to show their support for its sentiment. 

“The least we could do to show our support for the Palestinian people here in Hamtramck, Wayne County, in Michigan and all around the state and the world (is open) this street, so all of us today and the generations after us can remember Palestine,” Refai said.

The Islamic Center of Detroit’s Imam Imran Salha said that through the street naming, ceasefire resolutions and 100,000 people who voted “uncommitted”, Michigan is leading the U.S. and the world in its activism for Palestine.

“There’s nothing special about Holbrook, but there is something special about Palestine Avenue,” Salha said. “And when we say Palestine avenue we are saying and we are acting. We are acting to show that Michigan is the avenue to Palestine.”

Palestinian activist Lexis Dena Zeidan said it’s important to organize efforts like renaming streets because it shows continued support for Palestine and a ceasefire.

“We name streets, we rally behind protest votes and we start to work collectively as a community together because this isn’t a situation in which our community suffers just to advance another community,” Zeidan said. “It’s either we all suffer together, or we all move forward together. And this diverse group shows that this is a movement where we’re all collectively deciding to move forward together.”