Hundreds of people gathered in north Dallas Wednesday night to take a peaceful stand against the fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants that’s been raging for days.
On one side of Preston Road stood supporters of Israel.
"The idea that there should even be a question of a civilian population defending itself versus a terrorist organization trying to do harm to civilians shouldn't even be a question. The fact that we have to protest, the fact that we have to demonstrate to show our support for Israel, that's a shame, but we're going to do it,” said Rabbi Yaakov Green.
On the other side were supporters of the Palestinians.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
"We're here to fight for human rights over there. There's innocent men, women and children dying, and we're here to make our voices be heard as far as what's going on overseas,” said Palestinian Waseem Kahtib.
Though neither agreed who's to blame for what's happening, both said they hoped to bring Texans' attention to the conflict.
Across lanes of traffic, chants were batted back and forth between the two sides.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Though protesters remained peaceful, police interfered a few times to push protesters back as they moved into the road.
Dallas Police said two protesters were detained but were released.
"I think to a lot of people, they think it's a complicated situation. But we don't think it's that complicated. We think they have been there, the Palestinians have been there, for centuries. It is their land,” said Waed Alhayek.
“We don’t have the answer. What we do have is our words and the power to speak up and say enough is enough. We don’t want this anymore. We don’t want two sides. We want one side. We want everyone to be together,” said Raut Bania.
