Even amid a renewed wave of Israeli military aggression against Palestinian civilians throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since February 28th, in which Israeli forces killed 168 Palestinians, wounded 554, arrested 1,500 from various refugee camps, and destroyed tens of civilian homes, the US remains "convinced" that another visit by US special envoy Anthony Zinni is the answer, let alone the only option for reestablishing calm in the region.

While Israeli tanks continue to literally pave their way into Palestinian refugee camps (destroying homes and shattering the lives of innocent Palestinian refugees), US foreign policy-makers still fail to understand the reality of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: that an end to Israeli occupation is the only way out!

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has arrogantly announced that restrictions on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's movement will be lifted, because he (Arafat) has fulfilled Israel's conditions by arresting a few "militants." Yet Israel's military "operations," according to Sharon, will continue; is this intended to be a gesture of "goodwill" by Sharon-to kill while Arafat is not under house arrest, rather than to kill while Arafat is imprisoned? 'Ridiculous' seems like an understatement.

The entire Palestinian population remains captive to the horrors of Israeli forces, subject to shelling, killing, assassinations, and torture. Repeated Palestinian calls for international protection are left unheard, and the endless wave of Israeli violence has gained new momentum; all (thanks to George W. Bush's narrow interpretation of reality) in the name of a "war against terrorism," which Israel has fully exploited.

The world has shamelessly abandoned the Palestinians; while hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are facing the cruelest forms of military occupation, international pressure on Israel remains absent, and blind US support for Israel continues to grow, all at the expense of Palestinians.

Zinni's upcoming visit must fulfill the desperate requirements for a comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Zinni must address the real issues at hand: an end to Israel's policy of brute military force, Israel's withdrawal from Palestinian areas, and a comprehensive formula to end Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories captured in the June 1967 war.

Without a comprehensive assessment of the causes of conflict, another Zinni visit will only pass as another failed US initiative to end the conflict, with dire consequences on both Israelis and Palestinians