BANGOR, Maine — A small crowd gathered near the Pierce Memorial in Bangor on Saturday, calling for an independent Palestinian state and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
“If you really want freedom, wish it and advocate for all people, not just those who you like, those who are your allies,” Omar Conteh, who attended the rally, said Saturday.
Throughout the afternoon, chants of “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea” swelled as many waved the Palestinian tricolor flag.
The protest comes as casualties mount in the war between Israel and Hamas, which began Oct. 7, when Hamas militants launched a large-scale attack from Gaza, killing more than 1,300 people. A total of 2,300 Palestinian lives have been claimed in the days following, according to the Associated Press.
While the group in Bangor roundly condemned the attacks of last week, there was a feeling that the violence was the result of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which began in 2007 after Hamas took control of the territory.
“When you suffocate somebody on this level, it's bound to happen. That’s it. You gotta open a window for them, to breathe,” Khawla Wise, who is originally from Be’er Sheeba, Israel—which she refers to as “Southern Palestine”—said Saturday.
But others outside the demonstration wholeheartedly disagree with this idea. Robert Leikind is a regional director of the American Jewish Committee, an organization that has close ties in the region. He says he sees the attacks as the result of terrorism committed by a group that is divergent from the interests of the Palestinian people and is bent on ending the state of Israel.
"They’re looking for casualties to build sympathy with the international community,” Leikind said. "What can we do with a neighbor who’s not Canada, who is absolutely committed to one’s destruction?"
One thing shared between those supporting both peoples in the conflict is grief at the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilians.
"It is a tragedy of epic proportions and it's hard to make sense of sometimes,” Leikind said. Wise added, "It's supposed to be the land of peace, where all three religions practice freely."