Jewish and Arab student groups commemorated deaths related to violence in the Middle East with candlelight and prayer on Kogan Plaza this week.
About 50 Jewish students listened to speakers and music during the Yom Hazikaron, or Israeli Memorial Day, ceremony.
The a yearly holiday is observed in Israel to remember soldiers killed.

“Despite all that has happened and is expected to happen, we have the same goal – we want peace,” said an impassioned freshman Evan Wertheim, who spoke at the vigil about his cousin serving in the Israel Defense Force. “We want shalom .”

About five students gathered around a Palestinian flag at the back of the vigil. Rally organizers invited two students, including Arab Student Association President Dimiana Farag, to the front of the ceremony to light candles for a moment of silence.

“Everybody is losing lives,” said freshman Lauren Marks, who helped organize the vigil. “I was proud that we could work so well together.”

Arab students also organized a vigil Tuesday night for Palestinian civilians killed as a result of violence.

“There’s a very big difference between being a soldier or being a suicide bomber and knowing you’re going to die, as opposed to being a person who’s walking down the street to the supermarket,” Farag said.

“I personally was touched after hearing all these names and how they died, hearing gunshot after gunshot, three year-olds being shot in the back, men being shot 19 times in the head,” Farag said.