The Daily Targum

In response to the continuing violence in parts of Israel, Arab-American students held a silent protest yesterday afternoon on the steps of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus. A line of students held placards with downloaded photographs of killed and injured Palestinians for passersby to view.

“We’re trying to communicate to the public through images,” Nicholas Nassiff, a Livingston College sophomore, said. Along with University College junior Farhaj Hassan, Nassiff sent out mass e-mails on Wednesday to gather students for a silent mourning of the nearly 70 Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli soldiers since violence erupted last weekend.

Lists of 63 names and ages of Palestinian casualties printed on black paper were hung from the Brower pillars between flower displays and Palestinian flags. Tony Aschettino, a Rutgers College senior, said it was important that students know the names of those who have died over the past week. The listed names ranged in age from 18 months to 56 years.

Protesters handed out fliers with the now-famous image of Muhammed Rami Jamal Al-Dura, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy shot to death by an Israeli soldier, reading “Your Tax [Dollars] in Action ... $5.5 billion of your tax [money] goes to the Israeli war machine.”

Jewish students also handed out fliers near the curb in front of Brower Commons to give a different perspective. The flier showed an Associated Press photograph from the Sept. 30 New York Times that mistakenly called a bloodied Jewish-American student a Palestinian and showed a screaming Israeli policeman holding a baton nearby.

Rafael Shpelfogel, a Rutgers College junior, helped organize the event. “I guess the photo is supposed to portray an Israeli soldier beating a Palestinian student, but it’s a Jewish-American student who got jumped by Palestinians,” he said.

“We heard about this [protest] and we want to show the other side,” said Sylvan Garfunkel, a junior at the School of Business who helped distribute fliers.

“I feel that a great injustice has happened, and we’re trying to recognize and mourn Palestinian deaths,” Nassiff said. While several of the protesters are members of the Arab Students Association, a new student group, and the Pakistani Student Association, Nassiff and Hassan said they did not want to make any political statements about Israel, and all members were acting as individuals, not as members of student groups.

“We’re trying to stress human rights,” Aschettino said. “What’s sad is the refusal of the Israeli government to accept responsibility.”

Noam Kutler, a Rutgers College first-year student, saw it differently. “They feel Israel has violated human rights, and in this case Israel has acted honorably,” Kutler said as he handed out fliers of the beaten Jewish-American student, Tuvia Grossman. “Just today [Yassir] Arafat refused to sign the Paris treaty [for a ceasefire]. People are dying on both sides — it’s not a human rights violation.”

Yasser Hamdani, a Rutgers College junior, attributed some of the blame to the United States. “America has followed a very Machiavellian course in Palestine, in Kashmir and in Chechnya,” he said. “Islam is seen as a threat. The U.S. is a great country, but it’d be nice if the president did the right thing for once.”

Putting his fliers aside, Shpelfogel asked Nassiff for his personal view about the peace process. Nassiff declined to answer, saying it would not be appropriate for him to express political opinions at the protest.

Shpelfogel asked if he and Nassiff could meet elsewhere to discuss Israeli-Palestinian relations. “I’d love to discuss that,” Nassiff said. The two exchanged contact information and shook hands.