DEARBORN — A group of high school students hope to make a difference for people in Gaza still suffering the effects of the three-week war last month, as they try to raise money and awareness locally.

Fordson High School National Honor Society members Mohammad Ali Chokr (R), 17, Ali Nasrallah, 17, Hassan Hamid, 17, and an unidentified student stand beside a display promoting a Feb. 7 fundraiser for victims of war in Gaza at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn. PHOTO: Khalil AlHajal/TAAN

Members of the National Honor Society (NHS) from Fordson High have organized a charity dinner to be held Saturday, Feb. 7, 6:30 p.m. at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center, 6220 Miller Road.
The students have faced opposition to a display promoting the event placed in a second-floor hallway that included a Palestinian flag, a symbolic baby doll representing Gazan children in need and a monitor displaying images of children hurt and killed during Israeli military attacks.

The monitor was removed by administrators because, the students said, some found the images too graphic.

There has been pressure from administrators to take the entire display down.

“The kids refused to take down the display,” said language teacher Amira Kassem, who sponsors the NHS group.

She said administrators saw the display as taking sides on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but that students mean only to help people in need.

“They made sure that they specified it’s a humanitarian campaign, not a political campaign,” she said.

The display includes a paper American flag with “and justice for all” written on it, “because they didn’t feel that justice was being handed out to everyone,” Kassem said.

“The kids are very, very affected by what’s happening over there… We’ve never had so many students step up to do a project with such enthusiasm… There’s a lot of emotion involved.”

The students have been allowed to keep the display up until after the fundraiser.

“Change needs to come there,” said senior NHS student Mohammad Ali Chokr, 17, about Gaza, which remains besieged and in danger under a weak ceasefire.

“We’re doing the small things we can… dinners, fundraisers… anything that can help. Anything’s better than just sitting and doing nothing,” he said.

“It’s not really about taking sides,” said NHS member Mohamed Ali Ghandour, a 15-year-old junior. “It’s about helping people in dire need… Thousands of people have been killed.”

The students see their efforts partly as a way to raise awareness about events they feel mainstream media don’t pay enough attention to.

“People need to know that’s reality,” said junior NHS student Nadeen Hachem, 17, about graphic images the students tried to include in their hall display.

“That’s what’s going on in the world.”

Myssa Saleh, 16, also a junior NHS student, said she thought negative reactions to the images were misplaced.

“It surprises me that they made a big deal,” she said. “They should make a big deal about children dying.”

Junior Somia Alaansi, 16, said Israel gets billions in money from the U.S. each year, and that the students want to get a little bit sent in a direction that relieves the humaniarian crisis on the Palestinian side.

“All we’re trying to do is raise money for Gaza… We’re just showing our support.”

“I don’t think it should be about taking sides,” said junior NHS student Zanib Sareini, 16. “It represents our school in a good way — showing that we care about others,”

Kassem said the effort is entirely a students project.

She said the kids pushed adults aside to keep it student-led.

“It’s about time that the students lead and we stand in the background,” she said.

Fordson senior and NHS President Ali Nasrallah, 17, who is leading the effort, said proceeds from the Saturday dinner are to go entirely to Gaza hospitals through the International Medical Corps.

“This brings the community together and informs people,” he said. “It gives the students a chance to gain leadership skills.”

He said the project also helps relieve some of the anxiety that’s been penned-up inside the students since the violent news started coming in December.

“Seeing the images on TV at night and then going to NHS meetings and everyone is frustrated… It’s not Palestine over Israel or Israel over Palestine, but there are people in need,” he said.

He said the group began advertising the fundraiser a little overzealously, covering the walls of the school with flyers.

“We got in trouble,” he said, “but we got our point across.”

Founder of the International Medical Corps, Robert Simon, a graduate of Fordson, is scheduled to speak after the dinner at 8: 30.

Rhodes Scholarship recipient Abdulrahman El-Sayed, of the University of Michigan, is also expected to speak.

Tickets are a $25 donation.

For more information, contact Ali Nasrallah at 313.418.8195 or a_dcmst@yahoo.com.