More than 80 people gathered in an hour-long vigil in front of Holyoke Center last night to protest the ongoing violent conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

The participants held signs and chanted "Self-determination, end the occupation!" in a demonstration organized by the Boston Committee on the Middle East (BCOME).

Participants at the vigil said they attended to address issues of human rights, Palestinian nationalism and U.S. foreign policy toward Israel.

"I am here as an individual who believes in human rights," said Ramy M. Adeeb '00, a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Arab Students (SAS). "As a human being, I am here to say I don't agree with this destruction of the peace process."

About a dozen Harvard students attended the event, students said.

"We're trying to...express our solidarity with the Palestinian people and to struggle for just treatment in our homeland," said Ahmed T. El-Gaili '98, also a member of the SAS.

Diala Ezzeddine, a BCOME member of Lebanese origin and a student at the Medical School, said she wanted to do away with the distorted image that many Americans have of Arabs.

"We're hoping to make people think about the issues--and not by what the U.S. media gives them," she said. "In turn, they can influence their representatives into a more just U.S. policy in the Middle East."

Members of BCOME decided to hold the vigil in an emergency meeting on Saturday morning, said Saul A. Slapikoff, a BCOME member and an associate professor of American studies and biology at Tufts University.

Louis Kampf, an emeritus professor of literature at MIT and vigil organizer, said yesterday's vigil was the first public demonstration sponsored by BCOME.

"We felt that given the current situation--how bad it is--that we should make some kind of public demonstration rather than a uniquely educational presentation," he said. "We wanted it to be quiet and dignified. We wanted to bear witness to the fact that there are people who have been killed and who will be killed unless something is done."

Cantabrigians and other Boston area residents also participated in the vigil, as did representatives from a variety of local student and special interest groups.

Judy McConnell, a Cambridge resident who has traveled to Israel and observed the conditions under which Palestinians are living, attended the event.

McConnell said she participated in the vigil to address her concerns for what she said were human rights violations, land confiscation and the arbitrary annexation of occupied land by Israel against Palestinians.

Catherine Briggs, a Sudbury resident and health professional who has worked in the Gaza Strip, said one of the reasons she was at the vigil was in response to the violence.

She said she was shocked to turn on the television and see one of her colleagues there get shot