Michigan peace and human rights activists have continued demonstrations and awareness campaigns on the war in Gaza, which, as of Thursday, had killed over 1,100 Palestinians and 13 Israelis in 20 days.

Protesters carry a giant Palestinian flag during a Wednesday demonstration in front of the Michigan Union in Ann Arbor against Israeli military attacks in Gaza that have killed over 1,100 over 20 days. PHOTO: Manny Alvarez/SAFE

An annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march rally at at Central United Methodist Church, 23 East Adams Avenue in Detroit, is to include speakers in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle on Jan. 19 beginning at noon.
“We condemn the U.S.-supported Israeli siege and war on Gaza. We demand an immediate halt to ALL United States military and other aid to the outlaw state of Israel,” read a statement released by groups participating in the march, including the Palestine Office-Michigan and the Congress of Arab American Organizations in Michigan.

“The Arab American community has participated in past MLK marches, but this is a special opportunity,” said David Sole, of the Detroit MLK Committee and the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice (MECAWI).

In Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan Student Assembly (MSA), in its first meeting of the semester, considered a resolution addressing the war, according to a Michigan Daily report.

The resolution cites the number of dead on each side, makes reference to nearby Dearborn, home to a University satellite campus, as home to one of the largest concentrations of Arabs outside of the Middle East and calls for MSA executives to meet with the student leaders of the American Movement for Israel, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality and other student organizations interested in discussing the conflict.

The assembly plans to vote on the resolution on Jan. 20.

Mozhgan Savabie, a research fellow at the University who has repeatedly spoken at MSA meetings in attempts to get the group to consider measures to boycott Israel, said she doesn’t believe the assembly is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, but that she and other local activists continue to voice their outrage there.

“The idea is to push the idea of boycott of Israel into the campus — get the students talking about it… We’re out here every time and we will speak up,” she said.

About 200 people gathered at the steps of the Michigan Union on Wednesday despite painfully cold weather to protest the Israeli attacks in a demonstration organized by Students Allied for Freedom and Equality. In response, some students coordinated an effort to wear blue shirts in support of Israel.

A Palestinian boy wounded during Israel’s offensive is carried into Shifa hospital in Gaza January 11, 2009. Israeli forces edged into the Gaza Strip’s most populous area on Sunday, killing at least 27 Palestinians in an offensive stepped up in defiance of international calls for a ceasefire. REUTERS/Ismail Zaydah

In Dearborn, pro-Palestinian groups are planning a children’s event to educate on the situation in Gaza on Jan. 19, following the Detroit march. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Michigan and other groups are coordinating the effort to gather area children for the event at Greenfield Manor, 4770 Greenfield Road at 5:30 p.m..
In northern Michigan, a group of mostly non-Arab peace activists demonstrated on Jan. 8 in front of Sen. Carl Levin’s Traverse City office, carrying signs that read “Gaza: Israel’s Guantanamo,” “Stop the Seige. Free Gaza” and “U.S. $ Kills Gaza Kids.” A video of the protest, organized by the group MidEast:JustPeace, can be viewed at //traversepeacealerts.org. Demonstrators spoke to a representative of Levin during the protest, imploring him to pass their concerns on to Levin, who co-sponsored a resolution supporting the Israeli attacks that same day in Washington.

The group is hosting a film showing and discussion on the Politics of Palestine and Israel at the Traverse Area Public Library on Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m.

The Congress of Arab Americans in Michigan’s Gaza Taskforce on Wednesday submitted for consideration a resolution to Dearborn City Council calling for both sides in the Gaza violence to adhere to United Nations Resolutions and end the violence.

The resolution cites the numbers killed on each side and urges the U.S. government to press for “access for journalists; access to humanitarian aid; a cease-fire on both sides; a long-term truce and an end to the economic blockade of the Gaza Strip… a two-state solution that acknowledges the right of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and freedom.”

The group also has raised funds and designed and submitted billboard advertisements to be placed over busy area highways related to the occupation of Palestine and the amount of U.S. tax dollars sent to Israel.