HOOD RIVER — “The antidote to despair is collective action,” said Vicky Stifter, the pastor at Riverside Community Church.
Just over two weeks ago marked one year of warfare in Gaza, which has since expanded to include a much broader swath of the Middle East, particularly Lebanon. Regardless of your ideology or religion — Republican or Democrat, Muslim or Jewish — it’s hard not to be appalled by the 1,200 Israelis killed on Oct. 7, the tens of thousands of Palestinians that followed and the American government’s direct, explicit role in genocide.
On Dec. 22, 2023, Stifter organized an interfaith peace vigil for Palestine at Second and State St., right across from Hood River’s City Hall. Afterward, she called John Boonstra, the former pastor of Bethel United Church of Christ, and Miranda Bermes, the pastor at Spirit of Grace Lutheran-Methodist Church. Never imagining the violence would continue for so long, they felt it was necessary to have an ongoing presence.
Every Friday since, anywhere from 10 to 60 people have gathered at the same place. Dubbed Gorge Gaza Action, they hold signs, chant and demonstrate solidarity with Palestine while denouncing the — at minimum — $17.9 billion of unconditioned military assistance the United States has provided Israel in the last year. This includes more than 14,000 unguided, highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs, according to Brown University’s Cost of War report, among troves of other weaponry.
“The concerns about those who are most vulnerable and marginalized are at the core of Jesus’ ministry, so for me, it’s just a natural part of being a follower of Jesus,” said Stifter. While some practice a specific faith, Gorge Gaza Action isn’t a religious group. Many have joined simply out of their own morality.
“It’s people who felt motivated by conscience, about being silent and being complicit,” said Boonstra. “It’s a commitment to the fact that genocide is happening on our watch, and the really unconscionable thing would be to just go silent.”
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 42,175 people have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023, but many medical experts say the death toll is much higher — bodies buried under rubble, so-called “indirect deaths” stemming from famine and diseases like polio.
In mid-June of this year, the Lancet medical journal conservatively estimated that 186,000 Palestinians had died. Applying the same death rate, about 23,000 per month, 278,000 Palestinians have now passed on either directly or indirectly from the violence. That’s 8.5% of Gaza’s total population.
Later in July, 45 American doctors sent a letter to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, describing what they’ve seen while volunteering in Gaza. With few exceptions, they’ve treated children shot in the head or chest on a daily basis, believe that everyone in Gaza is either sick or injured and spoke to the widespread trauma among healthcare workers.
“We wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned,” said the doctors. “We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot believe that anyone would continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children after seeing what we have seen.”
Hood River residents Salam and Ibtissam Salman grew up in southern Lebanon, which Israel occupied from 1982-2000, so the sisters have xperienced conditions similar to the Palestinians. Recently, their parents fled to the capital, Beirut, and Ibtissam talked about how painful it is knowing they’re narrowly avoiding bombs while she’s unable to help.
“This is something your brain, your mind, your heart cannot take because it’s wrong,” said Ibtissam. “That’s why we decided to be here every Friday, to say that’s wrong. That we are all human beings. We should live all together, peacefully, loving, without hating and killing each other.”
Ibtissam emphasized that she’s always felt welcomed in Hood River since moving here in 2005, but she and her husband Houssein hope that more locals, along with the city, acknowledge what’s happening to Palestinians. Gorge Gaza Action pressured Hood River’s City Council to adopt a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in February 2024, as previously reported by Columbia Gorge News, but it didn't pass.
“What breaks our hearts is that our tax money goes to support this kind of genocide,” said Ibtissam.
Since the protests began, Stifter has maintained a consistent relationship with Jewish Voice for Peace. In those often-daily conversations, Jewish people have told her they don’t equate Judaism with the state of Israel, and that Israel’s actions run counter to their own religion, which has informed Gorge Gaza Action’s anti-Zionist approach.
“It’s possible and necessary to criticize a government based on its actions, regardless of the faith tradition, of those who are residing there or who are in leadership roles,” said Stifter.
While Boonstra noted Gorge Gaza Action isn’t under the illusion their protests will inspire fundamental change, standing together in solidarity every Friday from 5-5:30 p.m. helps them stay grounded during a time of profound violence, and reminds them of their broader moral vision.
“When you read the Quran, it tells you that injustice will always end up corrected,” said Houssein. Faith lifts the Salman’s spirits, and it’s the one constant in a long history of oppression for Palestinians. “They know it, they feel it,” said Houssein.
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