Iowa City high school students and residents gathered on the Pentacrest on Friday’s chilly afternoon to protest the Israel-Hamas war.
The protest is one of many in Iowa and nationwide regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that started in early October.
Roughly 50 protestors gathered on the Pentacrest holding pro-Palenstine signs, waving the Palestinian flag, and wearing keffiyehs. Keffiyehs are a type of scarf worn in Palestine and have been adopted by many protestors in recent weeks to show solidarity.
Jinann Abudagga, 17, a junior in the Iowa City Community School District, organized a school walkout that ended at the Pentacrest. Abudagga is from the Gaza Strip and has family in the area, including her cousins and grandparents, which is under Israeli occupation.
Abudagga said it is extremely frustrating not being able to contact her family in Gaza and know if they are alive.
“All my hope is through random social media posts,” Abudagga said. “I sit on my phone, scroll, refreshing my page hoping to hear some news if my cousins are alive, hoping they could send one small text message a day to be able to check in.”
The protest was Abudagga’s way of sending a message to West High School that the large Palestinian body at the school needs to be heard.
“I’m sick of hearing many people disregard the Gazan lives,” she said. “I was sick of people not doing anything about it. So I was like, ‘Why not me? Why don’t I do something about it?”
Protestors called for a ceasefire in the conflict, chanting among other things “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crime.”
Another chant commonly used was “From the rivers to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a chant that has different meanings to Palestinians and Israelis, and has been at the forefront of calls for the resignation of members of the University Democrats of Iowa after they used it in a statement.
Among the attendees were Ed Flaherty from Veterans for Peace, Iowans for Palestine Coordinator Pat Minor, and Newman Abuissa, chair of the Arab American Caucus in the Iowa Democratic Party.
RELATED: Pro-Palestine students present open letter to UI President Barbara Wilson, walk out of classes
Also in attendance was Jawa El-Shanti and her 13-year-old sister who are Palestinian and have family in Palestine.
“We feel sick every day, we cry, we are mourning every day, and then we’re angry,” El-Shanti said. “We text our family every morning and every night, ‘Are you alive?’ We need to hear that they’re alive, and that’s if they have cell service, that’s if they have internet. So yeah, we’re constantly mourning.”
