Despite a clear sky as the sun began to set on Lackawanna County Courthouse square, Will Cohen called it a dark day.
"It doesn't look like it, but it's darker than it's been in this entire dark and really quite terrible year of the conflict in the Holy Land," said Cohen, a professor at the University of Scranton and a member of Christians for the Common Good.
On Sunday the local group with religious foundations held a pray-in and vigil for Israel-Palestine and for a de-escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
They offered prayers, songs and reflections during an hour-long vigil along the Biden Street side of Lackawanna County Courthouse Square.
“We're here to mourn for Palestinian and Israeli lives lost over the terrible year ... and for Lebanese in recent weeks, as well as to make a plea for a ceasefire for the living," said Cohen.
Sunday was the group's second pray-in in Scranton. The first was held in December.
In February, they made a 25-mile ceasefire pilgrimage through Lackawanna County, echoing the length of the Gaza Strip.
The group also protested President Biden’s April visit to the city, alongside NEPA for Palestine, who in the year since the initial attack has disrupted congressional and presidential visits to call for a ceasefire and for the Biden Administration to stop arming Israel. The group also held protests throughout the city.
Chaos and conflict in the Middle East
One year ago, Hamas, a militant Palestinian nationalist and Islamist group, killed 1,200 people in Israeli towns and communities, including Israeli-Americans, and 365 people at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, a music festival. Hamas took hostages and almost 100 still remain in captivity.
Since then, Israel has waged war on its Palestinian neighbors, bombing the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip into an almost unrecognizable graveyard. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been reported killed and 2 million people — almost the entire population of Gaza — have been displaced as Israeli forces continue to destroy homes, hospitals and schools in search of Hamas leaders.
The United Nations says the humanitarian support system in Gaza is close to total collapse.
The war has now escalated into Lebanon, which borders Israel to the north, where more than 1,400 people have been killed, according to CNN. Israel Defense Forces are targeting Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group. Iran has also bombed Israel to defend both Hamas and Hezbollah, who are backed by the country’s military.
During the pray-in, Cohen said: “one need not be naive about the intentions of Iran or Hezbollah or anyone else to insist that Israel must now stop the indiscriminate and preemptive rounds and rounds of killing and destruction."
The United States is expected to provide nearly $157 million in new humanitarian assistance to support populations affected by conflict in Lebanon and the region, the State Department said Friday.
The Associated Press reports the United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began. The news organization cited a report for Brown University’s Costs of War project.
Cohen said contacting elected officials and the White House, along with public demonstrations, have not stopped the conflict.
One person, with help, can stop the war, he said — the President of the United States.
“We're here again on Biden Street. We asked President Biden today to stop sending Israel the bombs being dropped in Gaza and now also in Beirut,” he said. “It's imperative that at long last, the Biden administration stop enabling this unspeakable level of disproportionate violence. We ask again today that American leaders have the courage to do what's right.”
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who has been interrupted during events locally by NEPA for Palestine, issued a statement Monday.
“One year ago, Hamas terrorists committed an unspeakable, barbaric act of coordinated violence against Israel,” he said. “A year later, the horror and tragedy of that day still reverberates around the region and the world. I will continue to stand with Israel and steadfastly support its right to defend itself, including its efforts to dismantle Hamas and Hezbollah and to combat Iran’s aggression in the region," Casey said.
"I will continue to fight back against the exponential rise in antisemitism we have seen in America since that awful day. Our nation must continue to do everything we can to support Israel in holding terrorists accountable, to bring the hostages home, and to provide humanitarian relief to those suffering in Gaza,” he added.
On Biden Street
At courthouse square, about 30 participants called upon teachings from the three major religious represented in the Holy Land – Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
On behalf of Marywood University Professor Adam Shprintzen who was unable to attend, Cohen read a poem in Hebrew from a 13th century Sephardic rabbi. The poem is recited during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which just passed.
Melinda Krokus, a Sufi Muslim and also a Marywood professor, shared a sung spiritual poem in Turkish.
And the Rev. Michael Azar, Ph.D., a University of Scranton faculty member, held a book carved out of cedar, a gift from his family in Lebanon. Engraved is a verse from Psalm 92: “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar in Lebanon.”
Cedar trees are sacred in Lebanon, where they have been celebrated since ancient times.
"We heed the words of the Psalm that asks that you help us weak as we are, to depart from evil and to do good, to seek peace and to pursue it," he said.
Julie Schumacher Cohen, the University of Scranton's assistant vice president of community engagement and government affairs, read the names of a few of the many people in the Middle East who have died in the past year. She described herself as a Catholic and the daughter of an Israeli. She’s been meditating on Pope Francis’ call for a ceasefire last October.
"How much destruction and heartbreak prevented, if instead of indiscriminate bombings, siege, mass displacement, retaliations and retributions, if a lasting ceasefire had taken hold last fall," she said.
She called the conflict a "grievous failure, morally and strategically."
"That fundamental imbalance and dehumanization has meant that our government has not been willing to step in and stop the violence … I do not agree with American politicians who believe that backing hardline policies of Israel and sending more and more weapons with no conditions will make for a better future in that region.”
University of Scranton junior Naveen El-Dabsheh's family fled Palestine decades ago to settle in Jordan.
She wore a hijab with a keffiyeh design and shared a poem by Refaat Alareer, a professor, poet and activist from Gaza who was killed in an Israeli bombing on Dec. 6:
"If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze —
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself —
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above,
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love.
If I must die
let it bring hope,
let it be a story."
