As tensions remained high in the Middle East yesterday, Harvard Students for Israel (HSI) and the Harvard Society of Arab Students (SAS) held simultaneous public events in Tercentenary Theater.

About 140 supporters of SAS, dressed entirely in black, silently lined up on the Widener Library steps, holding up signs with the names of "all persons killed in the recent violence."

Their intention, they said, was "to remember all victims of the violence in a dignified and balanced way."

Moments later, HSI's "Rally in Solidarity with the State of Israel" began on the steps of Memorial Church with about 250 supporters. The rally mourned "all loss of life in the Middle East," while also issuing a strong show of support for the Israeli state.

"Israel's right to defend itself cannot be questioned," said featured speaker Rep. Barney Frank '61-'62 (D-Mass.). "The fundamental cause of the violence appears to be the rejectionists in the Arab world trying to...challenge Israel's right to exist as an independent state."

Featured speaker Martin Peretz, a lecturer in Social Studies, took a similar stance.

"One should not doubt that the Palestinian dream, the Palestinian intention, is to drive the Israelis out of Israel," Peretz said.

SAS students said their vigil represented an alternative to what they called HSI's partisan message, which they said ignores "the Israeli government's responsibility for having taken the overwhelming majority" of the 135 people killed in the conflicts of the past month.