The Oak Park Neighbors for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel group held a “Vigil for Gaza” in the west suburb, calling on the community to stand in solidarity against violence against Palestinians and Israelis in the ongoing Hamas-Israel War.
“It’s a group of people who felt it was important to be in the community with other local people to express their support for a permanent ceasefire and also to grieve the deaths of both Israelis and Palestinians,” Caren Van Slyke, a supporter of the vigil, told Pioneer Press in a phone interview Tuesday.
The conflict began after the terror group Hamas attacked southern Israel Oct. 7, sparking a war between Israel and Hamas that has devastated much of the Gaza Strip.
In that October attack, Hamas kidnapped an estimated 240 people and killed some 1,200 others. In response, Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion in Gaza have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, with women and children consistently the majority of those killed.
The ongoing fighting has brought unprecedented death and destruction to the impoverished coastal enclave, with much of northern Gaza obliterated and over 80% of the population of 2.3 million pushed from their homes, the Associated Press reports.
According to Van Slyke, there were reportedly 200 attendees at the vigil in Oak Park Dec. 10, which took place at Oak Park Avenue and Lake Street, the site of previous community demonstrations and rallies around peace, and gun and social justice issues.
“This is a humanitarian crisis. We ask for a permanent ceasefire and an end to Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. We ask for a return of all hostages,” according to a flier announcing the “Vigil for Gaza.”
Participants marched at the site carrying signs that called for such actions as “CEASEFIRE NOW” and “End the Massacre of Palestinians Now.”
“I’m Jewish and I think it’s really important that people who are Jewish speak out against dispossession and oppression of the Palestinian people and say, ‘This is not being done in my name. This is not consistent with Jewish values’ and ‘I’m Jewish and I support justice and equality for all,” Van Slyke said.
She said there were two large banners featuring photographs of peoples’ faces and calling for an end to the siege on Gaza, and to stop collective punishment.
“It made it very personal. It’s not numbers anymore. It’s human beings,” said Van Slyke, who attended the vigil as part of the Oak Park-based Committee for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel, or CJPIP.
There were also signs asking pointedly “Where is Danny Davis?,” the congressman who represents Oak Park. In a news release announcing the vigil, organizers stated that the Democrat was invited to attend and “finally commit to joining 60 of his Congressional colleagues … who have called for a permanent ceasefire.”
“We were very disappointed that Congressman Davis did not show and did not send a representative,” Van Slyke said.
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A spokeswoman from Davis’ office told Pioneer Press they were “not aware of an invitation” to the vigil.
However, Davis signed on to a bipartisan letter dated Nov. 7 that included dozens of other congressional leaders, stating: “We support Israel’s right and obligation to defend itself — to protect its citizens, secure its borders, and rescue its people held hostage in Gaza. Israel also has the obligation to, as best as possible, protect civilians, and in all its actions adhere to international humanitarian?law (notwithstanding Hamas’ complete disregard for the same).
“We also recognize the desperate needs of the civilians in Gaza, and fully support doing everything possible to expand safe zones, provide transit corridors, and deliver life-sustaining humanitarian aid.”
Then weeks later, Davis, who is running for reelection next year and faces a six-way primary challenge in March, signed on to a Nov. 30 collective letter from dozens of colleagues to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III. It urged deployment of “United States hospital ships USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, or other medical-capable ships, to the waters off Gaza to help provide civilians access to emergency medical care”
Van Slyke said participants at the vigil offered prayers for justice and peace, and some spoke about why they were in attendance.
“A number of people brought poems and asked to read poems. Some were by Palestinian poets and there were other ones,” she said. “It was something that just struck me as how people were trying to express their grief in this moment.”
Attendees also took a silent walk through Scoville Park.
“It felt very powerful,” said Van Slyke.
Jessi Virtusio is a freelancer.
Pioneer Press staff and Associated Press contributed