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UCF students and alumni joined nearly 2,000 others in downtown Orlando Saturday afternoon to protest Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip.
"To me it's pretty clear that it's an unjust and immoral situation," said Sarah Wissig, a senior majoring in interdisciplinary studies. "Hundreds and hundreds of people are dying, and the attacks are not going to make anyone safer."
Protesters gathered at Lake Eola for the Florida Statewide March for Palestine on the 15th day of fighting in Gaza.
On Saturday at least 30 Palestinians were killed, pushing the death toll over 820, according to The Associated Press.
Israel has been harshly criticized by the United Nations and Red Cross for its hindrance of aid, according to AP. A U.N. truck driver was killed after a convoy carrying aid came under fire on Thursday, and 39 died after an "errant Israeli mortar shell" struck outside a U.N. school earlier in the week.
The AP has also reported scenes of destroyed homes and hundreds of dead civilians, many of them women and children.
Inspired by the energetic atmosphere and onlookers, the crowd marched and shouted, "No justice, no peace! Free free Palestine! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!"
Posters declaring, "Occupation is a crime," and "End the Holocaust in Gaza," and pictures illustrating scenes of destruction from Gaza also dominated the scene.
"If we want to have peace there, we have to have justice," said Bassam Amwi, a native born Palestinian who lives in Daytona Beach.
Amwi said he recalls having guns raised at his face twice during his stay in the West Bank. He said one of those times was when the Israeli military wanted to take his 12-year-old son to prison. Amwi had parked next to an Israeli car that had a broken window, and the Israeli military accused his son of breaking the window, Amwi said.
"When you are occupied, you have to fight," said his wife, Bashima Shomaria, who is also from the West Bank.
"The criminal actions of Israel is beyond imagination," Amwi said.
The attacks were in response to missiles fired by Hamas into Israel, according to AP.
Executive Director Rabbi Jonathan Siger of the Central Florida Hillel Foundation, a Jewish campus-life organization, said he blames Hamas for the attacks on civilians and is horrified by the situation in Gaza.
"I know from first-hand experience how painful it is and how terrible Israelis feel about it," Siger said.
Siger lived in Israel for two years and said he has had family members who have died from actions of Hamas. He also said Hamas is using women and children as human shields to make Israel look like the aggressor.
"Not standing against Hamas sends a terrible message," Siger said. "Their goal is to destroy the state of Israel."
According to MSNBC, Hamas demands a cessation of Israeli attacks, an opening of Gaza-Israeli cargo crossings and the legitimacy of Gaza being governed by Hamas. Another stated goal is to restore the lands occupied by Israel before the 1967 war, which includes East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza.
The Israeli government demands an end to Palestinian attacks, international supervision of a truce and an end to Hamas re-arming.
"Israel wants a real, lasting durable peace," said Jonathan Miniello, a psychology and political science major.
Miniello did not attend the protest. He said be believes Israel's reaction to stop the Hamas rockets from the Gaza Strip is justified because Israelis have grown tired of being targets of terrorism.
"A country's primary responsibility is to protect its citizens," Miniello said.
The protest on Saturday was organized by several groups including Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.), a national coalition that has coordinated protests across the country; Dawah Project, an outreach program in Orlando; Islamic Center for Peace; and South Florida Palestinian Solidarity Network.
Others are showing support by traveling to the region.
UCF graduate Hussam Al-Atrash is in the West Bank to rejuvenate schools, hospitals and the economy there. In an e-mail, Al-Atrash said even though the West Bank is not currently under attack, Palestinians there have experienced closures and military invasions.
"There is a strong sense here that everything Israel does is targeted to drive Palestinians to choose voluntary transfer and leave to other countries if they can," he said.
Although talks of a truce have been made by the U.N., both sides have failed to carry out a cease-fire agreement.
"What we need from the international community is more understanding of [the Palestinian] situation, resulting in economic, social and political pressure on Israel to stop its blatant violations of international law and basic human rights," Al-Atrash wrote.
"The catastrophe in Palestine is man-made, and that's what makes it so unsettling," Al-Atrash wrote.
Siger said that without forgiveness on both sides of the conflict, he fears that the cycle will go on for another generation.
"It seems to be pretty easy for the Palestinians and Israelis to kill each other," Siger said. "They need to forgive each other."
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