Members of Kol Aher (Another Voice), an Israeli movement based in the town of Sderot and in smaller communities in the Gaza border area, held a demonstration Friday at the Yad Mordechai Junction, a short distance north of the border - where they have already held numerous demonstrations and protests on earlier occasions.

Demonstrators made upon the government of Israel the following calls: - Cease the shooting of unarmed demonstrators! - Lift the siege on the Gaza Strip! - No violence! Yes to aid in rebuilding Gaza !! - Form a political program, rather than cause further destruction !!

“For almost 11 years, Israeli society tacitly accepts the situation that two million Palestinians live on the verge of a humanitarian disaster, in its close vicinity... This has to do with the corruption of a society’s basic moral values, with dehumanization and the glorification of the sniper rifle. Under this government, it is not Palestinian society which loses its basic human values – it is the Israeli society. "

Zvi Bar'el, Ha'aretz, 11.4.18

Attached is the press release we published on the eve of the Passover holiday, at the beginning of the violent confrontations.

https://www.facebook.com/OtherVoiceSdeortGaza/posts/1661956237173406

Stop the escalation immediately!

An urgent call upon the government of Israeli government from residents in the Gaza border area.

We, the members of Kol Acher, residents of Sderot and communities in the close vicinity of the Gaza Strip, call upon the Government of Israel and the IDF to stop the escalation and violent policy of shooting and killing civilians involved in demonstrations along the Gaza border.

The organizers of the Gaza demonstrations reiterate that theirs is a nonviolent struggle. In an interview before the first demonstration Sami Obeid, a veteran journalist from Gaza, said that he and his five children would march to the border because they had nothing to lose. Gaza is dying, and it does not matter if they die of starvation or gunfire by IDF soldiers. (...) The march is an act of despair and an attempt to draw the world's attention to the ongoing siege and inhuman suffering of Gaza residents besieged for years.

If the government of Israel really wants to protect its citizens who live near the border, it is best to finally formulate a clear policy on Gaza and invest these billions of taxpayers money in helping to rehabilitate Gaza, instead of further buttressing the walls around the world's largest prison.

Contact: Noamika Zion - +972-54-7689181; Arik Yellin +972-54-4689001