Nearly 400 people from numerous states and universities gathered on the Diag Sunday to protest violence and promote peace in Israel.

Attendees commenced the rally, which was organized by the Michigan Student Zionists, in response to the Second National Student Conference on the Palestinian Movement, by singing the American national anthem, followed by the Israeli anthem.

Event organizer and LSA senior Adi Neuman, who unsuccessfully sued the University to prevent certain people from speaking at the conference, said college campuses across the nation have progressively become more intolerant of students who speak out in favor of Israel.

"We are here to fight hate speech on campus that intimidates students to speak their views because they're afraid. This campus is one of the most dangerous campuses in the world," he said.

But Hussein Ibish, conference speaker and communications director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said Jewish students are scared because they are uneducated about the facts.

"The only thing for them to be afraid of is the people who scare them with lies. Our burden is to be reasonable and calm and respectful. It's not our burden to reassure them," Ibish said.

Neuman's attorney, Deborah Schlussel, criticized many of the conference speakers, as well as conference organizer and LSA senior Fadi Kiblawi, of using the First Amendment to promote anti-Semitism.

"These people invade our campus, invade this conference and promote violence and exhort it," Schlussel said. "And now Americans understand what the people of Israel are going through. Students on this campus live in fear. The lawsuit was a very brave lawsuit and even though we didn't stop the conference we showed the haters that we will not tolerate this language."

But Kiblawi dismissed the accusations of spreading hate speech, calling it a tactic to silence pro-Palestinian supporters.

"We categorically reject attacks of anti-Semitism by using the charge as a weapon against any critics of Israel. No one is safe, secure or free as long as Israel maintains its oppression," he said Saturday.

Rackham student David Wolkinson urged the crowd to "divest from hate and invest in peace, invest in Israel."

"The organizers of this conference drape themselves in free speech and the First Amendment. They claim they want a dialogue. This is not about the right of free speech; this is about freedom versus oppression. This is about right versus wrong. We are gathered here fighting for justice, freedom of speech and Israel," he said.

Despite organizer requests for peaceful protest, two men with opposing viewpoints clashed briefly before the Department of Public Safety intervened.

Officers escorted Nazih Hassan from the rally after a pro-Israeli man allegedly attempted to snatch Hassan's sign, a shirt that read, "Divest from Israeli Apartheid."

"This is my right. I was holding the shirt and then an old man threatened me, saying that if he could he would punch me and knock my teeth out," Hassan said.

The other man could not be reached for comment.

Shayndi Raice, a student at Yeshiva University in New York, said divestment threatens the right of Israel to exist.

"For many people this is about the survival of the Jewish people," she said.

Moe Freedman, an Oak Park resident, said he supports Israel because it is the only democracy in the Middle East.

"I'm here because I want to make the statement that divestment is a form of anti-Semitism. The goal of divestment would be a noble one if it ranked all countries of the world by their human rights records and invested accordingly - that would probably cause investment in Israel to go up," he said.

As the rally ended, pro-Israelis and pro-Palestinians continued to debate the finer points of the conflict.

Though LSA senior David Post said he agreed neither side would convince the other, he admitted "this type of argument gets addictive."