by XUEER LU OCTOBER 17, 2023 (MissionLocal.org)
Hundreds gathered at Dolores Park Tuesday evening for a candlelight vigil demanding a cease-fire in Gaza after a blast in Gaza City today at a hospital reportedly killed at least 500 people.
Palestinians, Gaza health authorities and Arab leaders said that the explosion was the result of an Israeli airstrike, but Israeli officials are blaming an errant Palestinian rocket. Neither version could be confirmed.
People in the crowd at the vigil held candles in their hands and stood in silence for about a minute, in memory of the dead.
Ellen Brotsky with the Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area chapter spoke publicly about anti-Semitism as well as Palestinian liberation.
“We understand that our Jewish safety from anti-Semitism comes through solidarity with all peoples, including the Palestinian people, and through our collective liberation together,” Brotsky said. She also called for the crowd to call or write to Congress and elected representatives to demand a cease-fire in Gaza.
Israel has been bombing the Gaza Strip for 11 days, following an attack on Israeli civilians by the Palestinian organization Hamas. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, the death toll from the bombing has reached 3,000 so far, with 125,000 wounded.
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Yoav Gallant, Israeli defense minister, stated that Israel would allow “no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel” into the enclave.
The siege has brought protesters to the streets. Thousands of demonstrators marched down Market last Saturday, joining an “All Out For Gaza” rally in support of Palestinians who were trapped in Gaza amid the escalating military conflict.
On Sunday night, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins called the solidarity march “a pro-Hamas rally,” in a since-deleted post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“This weekend a pro-Hamas rally was held downtown, where ‘Death 2 Israel,’ amongst other hateful rhetoric, was graffitied across buildings,” Jenkins wrote in her post, which she deleted on Monday.
Leaders of organizations, including the Jewish Voice for Peace in the Bay Area and Arab Resource and Organizing Center, issued statements condemning Jenkins for inciting violence. They said rhetoric like Jenkins’ led to the stabbing death of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume in Chicago, Illinois. The Palestinian-American boy’s landlord has been charged with murder in an alleged anti-Muslim hate crime.
“As we fight and organize to free our people back home, to stand on the side of freedom with our people back home, we’re also fighting alongside one another to ensure that what happened in Chicago doesn’t happen in our backyard.” said Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, speaking with her 6-month old baby in her left arm and a mic in her right hand.
Lulu Azzghayer a Palestinian mother in San Francisco, spoke to the crowd about her experience in Shuafat, a mostly Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, and was shocked to learn how little people in the United States know about the lives of Palestinians.
Azzghayer shared that she was supposed to go on a college tour with her 16-year-old daughter now but instead she was here, speaking up against Israeli actions in Gaza.
After an hour and a half, the vigil approached its end. Some left, while others gathered closer and started chanting in Arabic: “With our blood, with our soul, we’re gonna save Palestine.”
Karim Aburjeila, a 28-year-old software engineer from Gaza, lingered, holding a Palestinian flag in his hand.
Aburjeila arrived in the United States alone three years ago. He said he has lost direct communication with all of his family members and friends who are currently in Gaza.
“They have destroyed the signals, everything,” Aburjeila said. “Sometimes I have to call somebody who is close to them to reach them.”
As he spoke, the crowd kept chanting.
“Free, free, Palestine!” they chanted, and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
https://videopress.com/embed/cr4HMtTh?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Vigil crowd chanting “Free, free Palestine” and “Long live, Palestine”. Video by Xueer Lu.
“I have a lot of hope, and I’m hopeless at the same time,” said Somyah Abdullah, a 27-year-old Palestinian from Yemen who works as an elementary school teacher in San Francisco. “I’m heartbroken that everything is going on in Palestine right now, but I have a strong faith and belief that one day Palestine will be free. ”
Ending the vigil, organizers pointed to a 10:30 a.m. walkout on Wednesday at schools across the country in solidarity with all Palestinians in Gaza.
XUEER LU
Xueer is a data reporter for Mission Local through the California Local News Fellowship. Xueer is a bilingual multimedia journalist fluent in Chinese and English and is passionate about data, graphics, and innovative ways of storytelling. Xueer graduated from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism with a Master’s Degree in May 2023. She also loves cooking, photography, and scuba diving.
