The Palestine Monitor
December 4, 2001

The Israeli army has just attacked the West Bank town of Ramallah, with helicopter missiles hitting Palestinian police offices within the Ministry of Interior building. Two Palestinians were wounded in the attack.

The Israeli army is terrorizing the Palestinian civilian population. Last night, in addition to bombing Arafat's headquarters and two helicopters in Gaza, Israeli F-16s hit Jenin, and helicopters missiles attacked Betunia.

Helicopters and F-16 fighter jets circled over Palestinian towns and villages throughout the night: hours of psychological terror for civilians in their homes, even in those areas they did not strike. At the same time, the siege destroys Palestinian life on every level, with health care and education systems paralysed and the economy ruined.

Such a scenario is not new: the Israeli government has been engaged in a campaign of state terror against a civilian population for the last fourteen months. It is imperative that the Israeli government is made to recognize its responsibility for the current situation, which requires recognizing its continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal, it is 34 years old, and it is the root cause of the violence. With 862 Palestinians and 239 Israeli Jews dead, it is now time to end the occupation which will never bring anything more than further violence.