DEARBORN, Mich. — While the U.S. is lining up behind its ally Israel in the wake of the deadly Hamas attack, there was also a surge of support for the Palestinian cause on the streets of some of the country's biggest cities.
In New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, small but passionate groups of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered Sunday and demanded that Israel end its yearslong blockade of the Gaza Strip, saying the Palestinian story was being drowned out by the unfolding tragedy in Israel.
But amid the cries of "Free Palestine," some also condemned Hamas' deliberate attacks on Israeli civilians.
"We are against killing civilians," said Najeh Zahghlol, a Palestinian American in Chicago. "We're against that."
The outcry from the Palestinian émigré community came just before Israeli officials ordered a "full siege" of Gaza and as the world was digesting horrific videos and accounts of Israelis' being taken hostage and gunned down in their homes by masked Hamas gunmen.
Those were followed by video from Gaza on Monday that showed Palestinian civilians clearing the rubble after Israeli missile attacks.
As of Monday, at least 700 people had been killed in Israel, including 73 soldiers, the Israel Defense Forces reported. Meanwhile, 560 people had been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
And at least nine U.S. citizens have been killed, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Ayah Tomaleh, a Palestinian American in Bridgeview, Illinois, said she also doesn’t want to see violence against civilians. She added that Palestinian civilians are also suffering after Israeli forces launched aerial assaults on Hamas positions in the densely populated territory. But that’s not being reported as widely.
“It is one-sided coverage,” she said Sunday. “We don’t see anyone talking about the Palestinians and how they’re dying. I see videos of children crying out because they lost their fathers and parents all the time.”
Tomaleh noted she wasn’t surprised President Joe Biden declared his “rock solid and unwavering” support for Israel’s security, adding Palestinians appreciate any show of support from the public.
“We can’t get hurt over that anymore, because it’s kind of the norm now,” she said. “But we get happy and we have hope when we see someone siding with us.”
There were no organized demonstrations in Dearborn, which has one of the largest concentrations of Arab Americans in the U.S. In interviews with reporters, residents said they wanted the violence and the civilian killings to stop — and they wanted their side to be heard.
“We just want both countries to resolve their issues and come to peace,” said Nathan Al, 37, an Iraqi native who moved to Michigan in 1996. “Israel is being supported, and Palestine is considered a terrorist and not being heard."
He said that wasn't fair.
“I don’t see how Israel is not labeled a terrorist country when they’ve taken over Palestinian land and forced them out," Al said. "How is that not terrorism?”
More than half of Dearborn’s population is of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry, according to NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit. It is also home to the Arab American National Museum, the only museum of its kind in the U.S.
The attack on Israel caught many Dearborn residents by surprise, forcing them to once again contend with the decadeslong struggle over Gaza since Israel seized it from Egyptian control in 1967. The battle between the Palestinians and Israel dates back even further, to 1948, when Israel was founded.
Abdullah H. Hammoud, who was elected Dearborn’s first Arab American mayor in 2021, said on X that the violence was predictable.
“Israel’s decades of illegal military occupation and imprisonment of Gaza made peace impossible and tragic violence inevitable,” he said. “Israel has trapped millions of Palestinians in Gaza in what is recognized by the international community as the world’s largest open-air prison.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza estimated Sunday that more than 313 Palestinians had been killed and almost 2,000 had been injured.
Other Dearborn residents echoed Hammoud's remarks.
“I don’t think it’s right attacking civilians and shooting down buildings on either side,” said Ahmad Imgoter, 26, a Dearborn native of Iraqi descent.
The "only solution," he said, is for Israel to hand over complete control of Gaza and other territories it controls to the Palestinian people.
While Hamas rules inside Gaza, Israel controls its northern border, as well as its territorial waters and airspace. The southern border of the Palestinian enclave in which 2.4 million people live in crowded conditions is controlled by Egypt.
A 23-year-old Lebanese woman who lives in Dearborn and, fearing reprisals, asked to be identified only by her first name, Nour, said many of her Arab American neighbors have mixed feelings about the latest war with Israel.
"We don’t want the violence," she said. "A lot of Arabs here want to free Palestine, because we feel like Israel took it from them. We don’t want bloodshed, but at the end of the day, it’s what needs to happen.”
Zain Zain, 40, who is from Iraq and now lives in Dearborn, said he wants the killing to end but doubts it soon will given the historic tension.
“Every year, they’re fighting with each other, he said. “They’ll be fighting again next year.”
Deon Hampton reported from Dearborn, Maggie Vespa from Chicago and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.
CORRECTION (Oct. 9, 2023, 9:15 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the call letters of NBC’s affiliate in Detroit. It is WDIV, not WVID.
