April 4, 2002 Urgent Palestinian Appeal to the World In light of the horrific war of aggression being waged by Israel against the Palestinian people and leadership, and with utmost urgency and desperation regarding the ongoing massacres against the entire Palestinian population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, we are appealing to the international community to take immediate steps in protecting the Palestinian people, in putting an end to the ongoing atrocities, and in condemning the state of Israel for its crimes against the Palestinians, and against humanity itself. Since the latest wave of unprecedented Israeli military aggression throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Israeli troops killed hundreds of Palestinians and wounded thousands (the majority of whom are civilians killed and wounded in cold blood inside their homes). Israeli troops have been terrorizing Palestinian civilians throughout the OPT, unleashing an unprecedented and uncompromising policy of brute military force against women, children, and men in every Palestinian city, town, village, and refugee camp. Israeli forces have imposed a total media blackout on its aggression in the OPT, thereby silencing both Palestinian and international voices and destroying any challenges to Israel's fabrication of information and distortion of horrific realities on the ground. Israeli troops are totally preventing Palestinian and international humanitarian agencies (including medical relief) from reaching the victims; civilians are being left to die slowly without rescue, families are being left without water, food, electricity, and shelter, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are suffering under the harshest conditions of a complete Israeli-imposed curfew. Repeatedly, the Palestinians have cautioned against Israel's premeditated plans to bash the Palestinians into submission, and to inflict the worst kind of suffering on a nation that refuses to live under military occupation. Tragically, such calls have only been met with silence by world governments, and US support for Israel; these horrendous acts of Israeli aggression are a result of such willful neglect to the most basic and fundamental human rights, the right to life itself. While hundreds of people from various international solidarity groups continue to provide invaluable support to the Palestinians, through their presence and active commitment to protecting the Palestinians, we view with urgency the need for wider international support to and protection of the Palestinian people in this dark chapter of our history. We, the Palestinian people, appeal to the people of conscious in the world and to all peace and justice-loving nations to stand up against Israel's atrocities against the Palestinians, and to put an immediate end to the ongoing massacres and crimes against humanity that are painfully taking place at this time in the Palestinian territories. We therefore urge you to sign this petition as a clear expression of condemnation against Israel's atrocities against the Palestinian people, and as an embodiment of the human spirit to triumph over hatred, destruction, and conflict.