July 29, 2001
 
As the situation on the ground is getting more critical and alarming, the Palestinian people are calling and pleading for international protection in accordance with the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949. This is an urgent need that should not be delayed.
 
Palestinians under Israeli occupation are facing daily assassinations, demolition of homes, uprooting of trees, closures and restrictions on movement of people and goods and settlement activity, that are all forms of collective punishment and serious violations of human rights that eventually lead to a process of ethnic cleansing.
 
The decision of the G-8 to send an international observer force is certainly a positive first step that should be followed immediately by practical measures. Needless to say, international presence has been all along in Palestinian occupied territory since 1967 in the form of ICRC, international NGO's, and later TIPH (the temporary international presence in Hebron). However, this presence has not been able to protect the civilian population from Israeli aggression. What is needed is not merely an observation of what is happening but rather a serious and practical effort to halt all the Israeli measures against the Palestinian people. Such a need was confirmed by the UN international NGO meeting in Madrid on July 17-19, 2001. The participants expressed their solidarity with the Palestinian people and their deep concern about the extremely volatile situation in the occupied territories and called for an urgent international intervention for the protection of the Palestinian people.
 
At present, the Palestinians are facing a vicious media campaign where Israeli actions and violations are minimized or considered as "unintentional mistakes", whereas Palestinian actions against occupation are blown out of proportion, thus turning the Israeli military and settlers as victims and the Palestinians as the villains.
 
Gradually this campaign has led to radicalization of the Israeli public and made going back to the negotiating table more difficult.
 
We hope that the international presence that is suggested above, would pave the way for negotiations to end occupation and reach agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis on a two state solution in accordance with international legitimacy.
 
IT IS TIME FOR OCCUPATION TO END AND FOR THE TWO PEOPLES TO LIVE IN PEACE AND FREEDOM.