Students banded together yesterday in efforts to bring attention to the issues facing the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

On Jan. 17, the Israeli government enforced a blockade of Gaza. This barricade kept many supplies out of Gaza including fuel resources, which limited the outputs of power and water plants, causing many sanitation issues to arise.

Shipments of food and medical supplies from the United Nations World Food programme were also cut off.

The Israeli government eased the blockade Monday night Israeli time, but students still felt a need to gather and inform others.

“”We’re here to inform people about what’s going on,”” said Justin Mashouf, a media arts senior. “”As Americans we should raise awareness and I feel that the media has done a poor job of representing the reality of the situation.””

The group of students, most of whom were dressed in all black to symbolize the solidarity of the Palestinian people, gathered on the UA Mall starting at 9 a.m.

By noon about 50 people joined the group as they began their march toward the Federal Building in Downtown Tucson.

“”By going to the Federal Building we are using it as a symbol of our distaste with what the federal government is doing,”” Mashouf said. “”I feel that they are funding the government of Israel with a blank check to do this and it makes them human rights violators.””

The group of students passed out fliers to UA students which gave them information about how the American media censored much of the news coming out of Israel.

“”The news media here makes it so people don’t see how significant this is,”” said Hosain Bagheri, a mechanical engineering junior. “”More people need to know about this and what is going on, and that is what we are here to do. The media has done a poor job and most people don’t even know about the struggles.””

Along with people gathering for the rights of Palestinian people, there was a group passing out information from the Israeli side of the issue. The group there was a response to what they felt was unfair bias when dealing with the conflict in Israel.

“”This all only shows one side,”” said Ayelet Dagan, the Israel program coordinator for the Hillel Center. “”They are not taking into account things like the Hamas rule and all the suffering Israelis have gone through as well.””

Casie Squires, a communications senior, agreed.

“”By showing only one side of things you are creating hate,”” Squires said. “”If you want to create and promote peace, this isn’t the way to do it.””

The opposing side did not put a damper on the agenda of the various student organizations to continue the protest march to the Federal Building. A little after noon they left the protest.

“”This is really just to let people know the facts,”” said Stephen Thorpe, a psychology freshman. “”It’s a humanitarian crisis and no matter what anyone else says or thinks it needs to be told.””