Georgetown students held a vigil on Thursday to mourn the deaths of the estimated 65 men, women and children who have lost their lives due to the recent outbreak of violence in Israel. Students paid tribute to the dead through a multicultural and non-denominational ceremony.

Over the past week violence has erupted throughout Israel, specifically along the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The violence began shortly after Ariel Sharon, leader of Israel’s right wing opposition party, paid a visit to a part of Jerusalem that is known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims, places sacred to both religions. Palestinians have claimed that Sharon’s presence desecrated the sanctity of the site. The visit resulted in an end to the cease-fire being maintained between Israeli and Palestinian factions.

Over 100 students were present in Red Square on Thursday afternoon. According to Ruba Alami (MSB ’01), one of the vigil’s organizers, the ceremony was not organized by a particular organization, but by individual students.

“This is a human issue, not a political or religious one,” she explained. “It’s about individuals coming together, not a particular group with a particular agenda.”

Palestinian and Israeli flags were planted next to one another in Red Square to symbolize the goal of reconciliation between the divided factions. Students set up a display to remember the dead, including a list of names and graphic pictures of this week’s violence. Beside the pictures of bloodied Palestinians and a Palestinian flag, students displayed their intent: “To honor their lives and to recognize their deaths in the hope that the future will put an end to the violence and establish a lasting peace.”

Dalal Hasan (SFS ’01) began the ceremony with a statement about the security that most students see as natural. “It’s difficult not to take for granted the security that we have here,” she said. “A lot of people in our world do not have that.” She went on to describe the purpose of the vigil as “an attempt to remember lives.”

After a moment of hesitation, she added, “We just wanted to remember them, to give them our respect.”

Students attached names of each of the dead to individual flowers that were handed out to participants of the ceremony. ourners, most dressed in all black, held the flowers and each other as they formed a circle in Red Square.

The ceremony continued with a number of prayers from various religious faiths. Ory Abramowicz (COL ’02) and Sarah Goldstein (COL ’03), representing the Jewish Student Association, began with a prayer from the Jewish Torah. Arjun Sethi (SFS ’03), a Sikh student, then read the first verse of a holy hymn from Sikh scripture. Various other prayers, including one from the Bible and another from the Koran, were read as well. Hasan appeared overcome by emotion as she read the words of an Arab poet, written long ago but strangely appropriate.

After the students prayed, Hasan asked for a moment of reflection. Syaif Iders, a Syracuse University graduate, sang Cat Stevens’ “The Little Ones” a capella as students placed their flowers in the middle of the circle, one by one, each representing a lost life in the recent conflicts.