JERUSALEM – The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) condemns Israel's renewed military assaults against the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which have so far claimed the lives of four Palestinians.

On Sunday, 19 February, Israeli military helicopters killed two Palestinian activists from the Popular Resistance Committees in Khan Younis. According to Israeli sources, the men were involved in firing mortars into southern Israel.

On the same day, two Palestinians were injured in Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus. The two civilians had been throwing stones at Israeli troops during a major military incursion that included fifty Israeli armoured jeeps, two bulldozers, and two reconnaissance helicopters. This morning, two other Palestinians were killed by live ammunition in Nablus; Ibrahim al-Sheikh Ali and Mohammed Natour.

This latest wave of escalation by Israeli military forces, and the siege imposed by the Israeli army on the city of Nablus, is a violation of the truce declared by Israel and the Palestinian National Authority at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit on 8 February 2005.

MIFTAH cautions the international community against Israel's continuous military escalations, and calls for an end to Israel’s targeting of Palestinian civilians. According to MIFTAH's information, Israeli military forces have killed 4209 Palestinians since the outbreak of the Intifada in September 2000.

MIFTAH urges the international community, particularly the Middle-East Quartet, to take immediate measures to pressure Israel to abide by its obligations under the Geneva conventions, which stipulate that civilians must be protected from military assaults and spared from collective punishment.

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The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, MIFTAH, is a non-governmental, non-partisan Jerusalem-based institution dedicated to fostering democracy and good governance within Palestinian society through promoting public accountability, transparency, the free flow of information and ideas and the challenging of stereotyping at home and abroad.