© ReturnIsraeli activists post pictures on the fence between Israel and Gaza of Palestinians who were killed by Israeli soldiers while protesting during the Great March of Return.
A group of Israeli activists, dubbed "Return," advanced today towards the fence besieging the Gaza Strip, and hung pictures on the fence depicting Palestinians slain by the military during the Great March of Return.
The activists responded to a call for solidarity made by the organizers of the protests. Gazan organizations have requested that the pictures of the fallen protesters be hung in various locations around the world and particularly in the fronts of Israeli and U.S. embassies, in order to support the protests and their aims. Similar actions are expected to take place globally in the coming weeks.
An Israeli military jeep arrived on the scene as the posters were being hung and demanded the activists remove them. The activists finished hanging posters along the fence and refused to remove them.
One of the activists, Omer Sharir, explained that they were aiming to protest the killing of unarmed protesters as well the siege on Gaza, and that they supported the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Palestine: "the right of return is a basic human right extended to any one who was forced to leave their home as a result of conflict" Sharir stated.
Another activist Anna said: "there is nothing preventing the refugees to return to the towns and villages from which they were forced to flee, and similar resettlement programs have been implemented in other places around the world in the aftermath of wars. I am appalled that protests stemming from such an elementary desire to return to one's home, and from longings for a place and a homeland, are again and again met with live and lethal fire from the Israeli side."
The activists explained that: "Every day more people are shot dead in Gaza. More the 135 unarmed protesters have already been killed and 14,000 people were wounded including medical staff, journalists, and children. The global media offer less and less coverage of the carnage that are unfolding in the Strip. That is why we felt it imperative to respond to the request to solidarity from the organizing committee, as a result of our responsibility as Jewish Israelis for the occupation and the siege of Gaza, and similarly to reinforce the goals of the protests, which is the implementation of the right of return."
Resources:
The call for solidarity by the organizers of the Great March of Return
Background information about Great March of Return
Last week's action of hanging the portraits of the fallen protesters in front of the Knesset
Last week's action of hanging the portraits of the fallen protesters on the fence around Gaza
Last week's action of hanging the portraits of the fallen protesters in Be'er Sheva', near a mosque now serving as a museum
The demonstration on the Israeli side of the fence was held following a call to action from organizers in Gaza asking supporters to hold protests with pictures of those killed during the Great March of Return. Here is the press release:
© ReturnIsraeli activists post pictures of Palestinians who were killed by Israeli soldiers while protesting during the Great March of Return.
A Call to Action from Gaza!
Palestinian organisations in Gaza are calling upon all people of conscience around the world, to make posters of the fallen heroes of the recent Great March of Return and plaster these all over your cities and towns, especially opposite Israeli and American embassies. This is an action that will greatly benefit the visibility of our cause!
PDF files of the fallen demonstrators can be found here : https://tinyurl.com/y96mb76m
Please send pictures of your action to: greatmarchsolidarity@gmail.com
Following the media coverage of the massacre that Israel carried out against us on the first day of our march, we have been receiving less and less media coverage.Yet more and more of us are being killed every day. Gaza has been bombarded night and day too. Since the start of the Great March of Return, over 135 unarmed protesters have been shot dead and more than 14,000 wounded by the occupation forces, including children, medical staff, journalists, and the disabled. Gaza's health system has been pushed to the brink of collapse, as hospitals struggle to handle an influx of serious and life-threatening injuries.
Help keep the freedom of Palestinians and the right to return in the spotlight!
Signed:
Great March of Return-Steering Committee
The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)
University Teachers' Association in Palestine
Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel Al-Aqsa Universit
One Democratic State Group
Voices Against Israeli Apartheid
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