EMILY REID/Arizona Daily Wildcat Tucson resident Lama Bader, together with husband and children, shows her support for peace in the Middle East at a rally held Saturday afternoon on the Mall. At the rally, Muslim, Jewish and Christian representatives spoke about the need for peace in the Holy Land as violence in the area escalates.

Speakers call for Israelis and Palestinians to work to end violence

Representatives from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths spoke at a rally Saturday calling for Israelis and Palestinians to take steps toward peace in the Holy Land.

The rally was meant to show a common call for peace by members of both the Jewish and Arab communities, and comes in the midst of escalating violence between the two groups in the Middle East.

Five suicide bombings have been reported in Israel in the past week.

The rally began with a procession from the Islamic Center of Tucson to the UA Mall where several speakers responded to reports of a sharp escalation of violence between the two groups.

Members of the procession carried signs calling for the end of Israeli occupation, a shared Jerusalem and "two people, two states."

Eight speakers from various backgrounds spoke, all citing a need for an equal effort on both sides to strive for peace.

Mohyeddin Abdulaziz, a representative of the Tucson American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and director of information technology at the James E. Rogers College of Law, was one of the speakers.

"There can be peace in the Holy Land only if peace is given a chance," he said.

Abdulaziz said that the United States, through its continuing military support of Israel, is responsible for the current occupation of Palestinian land by Israel, and therefore every U.S. citizen is also responsible for what is happening in the Middle East.

EMILY REID/Arizona Daily Wildcat A crowd of supporters rally for peace in the Middle East on the Mall Saturday. The rally was meant to show a common call for peace by members of both the Jewish and Arab communities.

"Israel, with the help of the United States, is the only country in the world allowed to violate human rights," Abdulaziz said. "Today, the longest occupation in history continues."

Tzadik Greenberg, chairman of the Southern Arizona Committee on Environment and Jewish Life, said instead of just looking at the occupation as a source of the violence, it also important to consider why the occupation happened in the first place, and that both sides are at fault.

"We need to take time to listen to each other," he said. "There are many bridges to build here."

Abdulaziz said the supply of arms to Israel by the United States is not giving peace a chance.

"We all recognize there is no military solution to the problem," he said.

After the rally, Greenberg said that although there were obvious problems to be resolved, the rally was a good beginning.

"I thought (the rally) was very biased. (Muslims and Jews) both need to take responsibility. Today was a step. It was a painful step, but a step," he said. "We have a lot of healing to do between the Muslims and Jews. There's a lot of work to be done and this was a great start."

The other speakers included Imam Omar Shahin, director of the Islamic Center of Tucson, and Rev. John Fife, pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church and leader of the sanctuary movement during the early 1980s.