The Arab American Association is organizing a vigil Saturday on Fountain Square to condemn the violence that has flared in Israel the past two weeks, while at Hebrew Union College in Clifton the connection with what is happening is made more palpable by the presence of students and staff studying there.

        The region has become even more tense with Thursday's apparent terrorist act that killed American sailors aboard the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.

        The violence has escalated since late September with outbreaks of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip involving Israeli soldiers and Palestinian rock-throwers and gunmen.

        Majed Dabdoub, president of the Arab American Association, said the Saturday vigil is planned for 3 to 5 p.m. on the Square.

        “Almost 100 Palestinians have been killed so far,” said Mr. Dabdoub. “The United States has the ability to stop the killing. The Israelis are the ones who have the weapons. They are the most sophisticated army in the Middle East. The United States could call (Prime Minister Ehud) Barak and tell him, "Look, stop this.'”

        Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, president of Hebrew Union, said what has been happening in the Middle East the past two weeks is more than a matter of conversation at the college.

        “We have a campus there,” said Rabbi Zimmerman. “We have our entire first year class of rabbinical students over there. Faculty and staff. So this is in a very profound sense not simply our concern for the people of Israel, but also our concern for our own students. We are in regular contact, three or four times a day. In my conversation with the dean of the school there the escalation has taken place. The mob capture and killing of Israeli soldiers has only added to it. The attack on the American vessel has only added to it.”

        Mr. Dabdoub said the vigil will help demonstrate that what is happening overseas has implications here. People should realize that American dollars are used to support Israel and the killing of Palestinians, said Mr. Dabdoub, and that this country needs the Arab world as allies, too.

        “Yes, we do support peace and we want peace,” said Mr. Dabdoub. “Palestinians are not the ones who are saying we want war. The Israelis are the ones who are attacking, who are using their airplanes, who are using their military power to crush the people. As far as Palestinians are concerned, they do want peace. What they want is stability. They've been suffering long enough.”

        In a statement released Tuesday by the Reform Movement, a number of rabbis and officials of Reform Judaism, including Rabbi Zimmerman, asked for an end to violence, and called upon Yasser Arafat to “make a difference in the level of violence” in the area.

        They also called upon all citizens of Israel, “Arab and Jew alike to refrain from further violence between neighbor and neighbor.”

        Said Rabbi Zimmerman, “Innocent life is being lost on both sides. There is deep anger and deep frustration, deep resentment. It was so close, just so close to the possibility of peace.”

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