Jews and Muslims rallied in separate observances Tuesday in Cincinnati.

        More than 700 people turned out at the Jewish Community Center for a community solidarity rally Tuesday night.

        Several hours earlier, about 40 students joined the Muslim Spiritual Support Network at the University of Cincinnati to protest lethal force being used by Israelis against Palestinians.

UC junior Sadaf Nasir places star-and-crescent Islamic symbols to represent children killed in Mideast violence. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        They chanted, “Stop the killing” and “Stop killing our brothers” or “allahu akbar'' (God is great) or ""la illah al allah'' (there is no God but Allah).

        Holding signs with the same or similar messages, Muslim students lined two walks on McMicken Common for 90 minutes, offering fliers to anyone who passed.

        In Roselawn, the rally was held to show support for the people and government in Israel, to express a desire for lasting peace in the Middle East, and to extend condolences for families who lost sons or daughters on the USS Cole.

        Mesel Wieder, 90, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who lives in Roselawn, said at the Jewish Community Center rally that he hoped for peace, “but this is very hard.

        “What they want, the Palestinians and the Jews, is impossible to achieve. Each side has to give a little.

        “I am optimistic there will be peace, but it will take time.”

        Rabbi Michael Zedek, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, asked those at the Roselawn rally not to be “imprisoned by pessimism.

Covering his face in prayer, Rabbi Hanan Balk leads a prayer for peace in Israel, along with Rabbi Rick Steinberg and Israeli Lt. Col. Noga Maliniak. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        “For Jews, it is always forbidden to despair. We must not give up, we must try again and again,” he said.

        The Roselawn rally was highlighted by songs and prayers, including the Prayer for the Peace of Israel, said in Hebrew and in English.

        At UC, it was the first protest in which Halimah Thiam, an African-American graduate student in education, has participated as a Muslim since her conversion six years ago.

        “I believe the killing that is happening over in Palestine is unjust,” Ms. Thiam said, and when she saw images of children being shot, she couldn't remain silent. “I am a mother and that is what really stirred me.”

        Fatma E. Salama, a junior business major, said she tried to reserve the McMicken Common space for a rally two weeks ago when the violence began but Tuesday was the first opening.

        Reaching the wider campus community is “urgently needed,” the American-born daughter of Egyptian immigrants said. “Not just Muslims have an obligation to see what is happening is (not) correct.”

        She said green star-and-crescent Islamic symbols stuck in the lawn represented children killed in the latest Palestinian-Israeli confrontations.

        Eyad alSabbagh, a doctoral candidate in molecular biology and acting president of the campus Muslim group, said he hoped the demonstration would raise awareness of the “atrocities” by Israelis.

        A Palestinian, Mr. alSabbagh said he wants President Clinton and Ohio's congressional delegation to pressure Israel to pull its troops out of occupied territories and to stop using lethal force against protesters.

        He also said Americans should press Israel to comply fully with U.N. Resolution 242, which calls on Israelis to withdraw from land conquered in 1967 but also implicitly calls on Arabs to recognize the Jewish state's right to exit.

        Michael Rapp, of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, said the Roselawn turnout was heartening.

        “You never know how many people are going to come,” he said, adding that he hoped the rally allowed people to come to grips with the frustration they are feeling, and enabled them to leave with a sense of hope.

        The Roselawn rally was sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati Board of Rabbis, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and the Rabbinical Council of Cincinnati.

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