As the world awaits the Israeli acceptance of the ‘roadmap’ which has been accepted and is already being implemented by the Palestinians, Israeli troops are escalating their attacks against the Palestinians; invading, demolishing, shelling and killing Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Since the publication of the ‘roadmap’ on April 30th; there has been close to thirty Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers living on Palestinian land.

Six Palestinians have been killed in the past 12 hours by Israeli troops throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Amongst the people killed is an 18-months-old baby, a 22-year-old lady and a 17-year-old child who was shot several times by the troops.

30-year-old Ameen Manzlawi was assassinated at his home near Nablus, when Israelis blew up his home while he was inside. 18-months-old Alyan AlBasheeti was shot in the head as he was playing in front of his home in Khan Younis, the bullets were fired from a near by illegal Israeli settlement. In Tulkarem 20-year-old Ayman AlHaji was killed when an Israeli armored jeep rammed into Ayman as he was driving his civilian car in Tulkarem in west Bank killing him at once. In Jabalya refugee camp, Gaza, Ahmad Jodeh who is 17 years old was gunned down by Israeli soldiers and died immediately as he was shot several times all throughout his body. Another unidentified 25-year-old man was found dead near a checkpoint in Gaza, he was burnt to pieces as a result of an Israeli tank shell which was fired towards him. Ikram Kodaih, a 22-year-old lady from Khan Younis was pronounced dead early Thursday; she had been shot by Israeli troops while farming in northern Khan Younis on April 29th.

With the Israeli right-wing coalition government, which fervently opposes an independent Palestinian state and is keen on expanding illegal settlement activities, the situation is only expected to get worse. The American government continues to turn a blind-eye to the Israeli war crimes treating Israel as a state above the law; the Israelis are bent on exploiting and pre-empting any future hope for peace or the emergence of an independent Palestinian state. We urge the US lead ‘Quartet’ to hold Israel responsible and take the necessary measures in order to assure the ‘roadmap’ is implemented in a parallel manner by both sides and not just by the occupied Palestinians.

We call on the international community to hold Israel responsible and accountable in accordance to international and humanitarian law. We emphasize the importance of sending international monitors to protect the Palestinians from the ruthless Israeli attacks. The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of a Global Dialogue and Democracy strongly condemns the Israeli escalations. We urge the world to apply the same standards to all international law violators through breaking the silence and speaking out against the occupation and human rights violations taking place on a daily basis in the occupied Palestinian territories.