Greetings, After assuming power, the Israeli war government under General Sharon, the slaughterer of the massacres of Qibya, Gaza, Sabra and Shatella undertook a dangerous turn point in the Israeli aggressive war, which continues against our Palestinian people since the end of September 2000. In the past few days, the Israeli war government imposed a comprehensive military and economic siege on the Palestinian cities, towns, villages and camps. They banned the movement of individuals and goods and isolated the Palestinian areas through digging deep and wide trenches that reach several kilometers in some regions; they also destroyed roads and closed them with cement blocs, sand hills and tanks of occupation troops. This led to the isolation of the occupied city of Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and to the division of the West Bank into more than 60 closed and besieged areas and the division of Gaza Strip into five similar regions.

The tightening of the siege against our people was accompanied by a major escalation in the daily Israeli aggressions in terms of shelling, destroying houses, schools, places of worship and the execution of all acts of oppression, terror and killings against our people.

The Israeli daily measures on the ground totally contradict with the statements of Israeli PM Sharon and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and the War Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer who issue lies and claims about easing the siege on some Palestinian regions and their desire for achieving peace with the Palestinian people. These deceiving statements aim to trick the Israeli, Palestinian, and world public opinion and to contain the international pressure campaign on the government of Sharon towards stopping the Israeli siege on the Palestinian people.

The Israeli continuous siege on the Palestinian cities, towns, villages and camps has paralyzed the work of official and private institutions and the private sector institutions who were banned from offering their services to Palestinian citizens, especially in the field of education, health, supplies, social affairs and social solidarity. The siege paralyzed the productivity in the Palestinian society at the agricultural, industrial and public services levels; it incurred serious damage to the Palestinian national economy and to the Palestinian infrastructure, which was built in the past few years.

These racist measures caused a famine among the Palestinian people who were under siege; more than 360,000 laborers were prevented from work whether in Palestinian or Israeli projects, thus raising the level of unemployment from 11% prior to the Israeli aggression to around 60%. More than two million Palestinian citizens are now living under the poverty line; the local and foreign NGOs are prevented from reaching the isolated and besieged areas to offer assistance. The health conditions of many Palestinians have deteriorated; many patients are not allowed to reach hospitals, which are located in the main Palestinian cities, thus causing several death cases either in their homes or at checkpoints. The educational process has been disrupted in several universities and schools, which could not have regular classes because teachers and students under siege could not reach their destinations.

Through escalating its aggression and siege, the Israeli war government seeks to impose its conditions on the Palestinian people and force them to surrender; they seek to impose their dictations on our people and their national leadership to accept the Israeli solutions that aim to keep occupation on Jerusalem and most of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and on keeping Zionist settlements on the Palestinian lands and on eliminating the issue of Palestinian refugees.

The Palestinian people will not be scared by the measures and policies of the Israeli war government; the Palestinian people will not succumb to the Israeli conditions and dictations. The Palestinian people will continue their national struggle and their blessed Intifada in confronting the Israeli aggression and siege until the elimination of occupation and settlements on the occupied Palestinian lands and until the achievement of the goals of our people in return, self determination and the establishment of the sovereign and independent state with al-Quds as its capital.

The Israeli siege measures violate the basic human rights in life, work, education and health. We look forward to all forces that defend freedom, peace and justice all over the world to condemn the Israeli aggression and siege imposed on our people. We also look forward to see those forces exert all possible pressure in the Israeli war government towards halting the aggression and lifting the siege and opening the Gaza Airport and all crossings with Jordan and Egypt and facilitate the entry of external assistance to our people. We also look forward towards requesting from the UN Secretary General and from the UN Security Council to expedite the deployment of international troops to secure protection to our people from the Israeli aggression, especially in the regions that are still under the Israeli occupation as a step towards ending the Israeli settlements and occupation on the Palestinian territories.

Our people are looking forward towards political and moral solidarity from all forces that defend freedom and peace in the world so that our people can get rid of the daily sufferings that result form the continuation of aggression, occupation and siege and in order to see the Palestinian people live in freedom and dignity and independence just like all free peoples of the world.

Accept our appreciation
The National and Islamic Forces in the state of Palestine