The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) calls on the international community, with all its governmental and non-governmental institutions, its international organizations, as well as its human rights movements, to take immediate and concrete steps in condemning Israel's terror against the unarmed civilian Palestinian population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday March 28th, 2001, in a latest wave of viscous strikes against the Palestinians, Israeli forces bombarded the towns of Ramallah and Al-Bireh in the West Bank, and Gaza city in the Gaza Strip, killing two people (including a 43 year-old woman) and injuring more than 60.

Israeli tanks and helicopters launched a one-hour strike on the mentioned locations, causing a horrific state of chaos and hysteria in heavily populated areas. Major electricity lines were cut off and serious material damage was inflicted on military as well as civilian targets.

The Israeli government's continued measures of brute force against the Palestinian people, and the daily horrors inflicted by Israeli forces on Palestinian civilians, are a crime against humanity and a violation to the most basic human rights, in accordance with international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

The Israeli government must realize that an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can only be achieved through an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, and the return of the Palestinian refugees (in accordance with UN Resolutions 242, 338, 194, and the land-for-peace equation).

Israel's military escalation and unleashing of power against the Palestinians adds more volatility and instability to an already explosive situation. The impact of Israeli terror will have detrimental effects not only on the Palestinian territories, but equally on Israel itself and the entire region.

MIFTAH calls for an immediate end to Israel's terror against the Palestinians, and urges all peace-loving nations to take a firm stance against oppression, occupation, and injustice, and to take immediate steps in providing international protection to the Palestinians.