07/06/2025
Yesterday, hundreds of Israelis, Jewish and Arab joined in a "March in White" along the Gaza border, calling to END THE WAR and the KILLING, and STARVATION in GAZA and to the RETURN of ALL the HOSTAGES!
For 18 years Other Voice has maintained contacts with peace seeking friends from Gaza. 15 years ago Mohammed from Khan Yunis visited Israel and joined a seminar of Gazans and young Israelis. Recently he renewed his connections with Eric Yellin, his friend from Other Voice who asked if he would like to address the large crowd during the march. Here are his words and a powerful response to all those who claim falsely and intentionally that "No one in Gaza is innocent", just to justify and continue this endless war of blood and deceit!
Read and listen to his words!
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To my friends and to the peace-loving Israeli people, I would like to greet you with the Arabic salutation we use in Gaza: (Assalamu Alaikum) which means in English, "Peace be upon you"
To those who have not lost hope in peace and continue to fight with strength and courage for this dream I send you this message from Gaza, where immense suffering caused by this senseless war is intertwined with a faint glimmer of hope for an uncertain future, one we cannot predict after this war.
Here in Gaza, death, destruction, hunger, and displacement spread everywhere. People here are desperate, with no jobs, no homes, no hospitals, no schools, no electricity—nothing—because of a mistake they did not make and a crime they did not commit!
We cry out, "Release the hostages," but no one listens to us.
The people of Gaza are victims of Hamas's stubbornness and the Israeli army's harshness.
I have always been, and still am, a supporter and lover of peace. Even in the hardest of times, like this war, I have not lost hope in peace and in living side by side with our Israeli neighbors.
About 15 years ago, I was arrested by Hamas in Gaza because of my visits to Israel and my peace activism. They banned me from entering Israel afterward, but I never lost hope for even a moment, because I believe that courage is moving forward to achieve your goals under the most challenging circumstances.
Please, tell everyone you know that we in Gaza do not deserve all this killing, hunger, and destruction. We are a peaceful people, but just as you have extremists who are enemies of peace, so do we. They are a scourge of nations and exist in every time and place.
We must make our ideas triumph over theirs so that the logic of peace and coexistence prevails over the logic of war and hatred in this sacred region, allowing us to live in peace.
I do not wish to take more of your time, and I pray that God guides you in your difficult yet not impossible mission.
Peace be upon you. From Mohammed - Khan Yunis
