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Mohammad Ahmad walked down Glades Road this morning, waving a Palestinian flag and wearing a black and white keffiyeh around his neck.

Ahmad, a junior biology major, was protesting the ongoing conflict between the Israeli military and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“My biggest issue is not that it’s a Palestine-Israeli thing, it’s a human rights issue,” Ahmad said.

Ahmad is a member of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an FAU chapter of the non-profit student organization that raises awareness about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was joined by SJP President Noor Fawzy and close to one dozen more protesting members of the club.

Fawzy was also wearing a black and white keffiyeh.

“When we wear it, we wear it to symbolize resistance, to all bad things,” Fawzy said. “I, as a Palestinian, am very proud to wear my keffiyeh. It really is a part of the Palestinian identity.”

Earlier today, SJP decided to move its Nov. 19 meeting location from a conference room in the Student Union to the protest site at the Glades Road entrance to FAU.

“What FAU students should understand is this aggression is being funded with their tax dollars,” Fawzy said. “The United States is very much involved in this issue. It has basically given Israel the green light to unleash the destruction that it’s inflicting right now in Gaza.”

And although Fawzy spoke to the UP after the protest ended, there was no speaking, yelling, chanting or singing during the protest.

“The silence was a symbol for relating to the Palestinians,” Gabi Aleksinko, a senior intercultural communications major, said. “We understand they have no voice.”