How Israel keeps its side of the bargain Since the ceasefire was declared on 8 February 2005 between Palestinians and Israelis, Israeli forces have violated the ceasefire several times. The following is a list of Israeli violations of the ceasefire, the Road Map, and international humanitarian law since 8 February 2005: The assassination of two members of the al-Aqsa Brigades, a branch of President Abbas' Fatah party, on 15 February.  Issam Mansour and Mahyoub Alqani were shot and killed at close range with several live bullets to the head and chest in a Palestinian house in the village of Kufar Qalil. Witnesses say the attack was unprovoked. The killing of 15-year-old Ala Hani Khalil near Beituniya on 15 February by Israeli personnel guarding the illegal Annexation Wall in that area. The shooting was said to be in retaliation for stones that he and other children had thrown at Israeli military vehicles to protest the illegal Wall. Another boy of 14 was seriously wounded by the barrage of live fire. The shooting to death of 16-year-old Sabri al-Rjoub in Hebron on 14 February. Soldiers claimed he was carrying a knife, but Palestinian eyewitnesses say the boy was unarmed. The killing of a 20-year-old resident of Rafah on 9 February, the day after the ceasefire was declared. He was a civilian walking near his home in Rafah when he was fatally wounded by Israeli Forces' gunfire from the Atzmona settlement. A Palestinian child sits on the rubble of her home, destroyed by the Israelis These unprovoked acts reflect the arbitrary and therefore tyrannical way in which Israel soldiers can behave without any fear of being disciplined simply because the people they are killing are Palestinians.This has been a continuing policy managed by Israel since 1948, of terrorising Palestinian families to weaken communities and as part of their international campaign to encourage the dispossession of the Palestinians. This policy is designed to make the Palestinian cause "hopeless" by sustaining a policy designed to removing community and land contiguity and to weaken Palestinian communities by destroying the viability of their economic activities. Such killings seem to be intentionally provocative designed to try and incite some reaction on the Palestinian side. Currently Israels ongoing or planned actions, in violation of the Road Map and international law, continue as tactical moves to achieve a successful outcome for Isarael's long term strategy of destroying any social and economic viability of a future Palestinian state. These include the contionues expansion of illegal settlements and usingt he so-called security wall to steal or destroy land, farms and water resurces from their Palestinian owners. Illegal settlement expansion continues The following are examples of contunued illegal settlement expansion: The construction of a new settlement called Gvaot near Bethlehem which will likely house settlers being evacuated from Gaza this summer The construction of a new settlement on Paletinian village land at Jayyous in the Qalqiliya region, which has been forceably separated from its Palestinian owners by the wall. The expansion of the Alfei Menashe settlement, which will expropriate more land from the Palestinian villages of Habla and Ras Atiah in Qalqiliya region to connect it to Nirit village in Israel.  This move is even opposed by the Israeli village of Nirit itself. The massive expansion of the Betar Illit settlement in Bethlehem district, which is currently stealing Palestinian land and destroying the village of Nahhalin. The expansion of the Har Homa settlement, also near Bethlehem, which is designed to make natural growth of Palestinian towns impossible. The Israeli Army has also failed to act on standing orders to evacuate and dismantle several unauthorized Israeli settler outposts in the West Bank which were declared illegal by the Israeli High Court. The wall The failure of the government of Israel to abide by the International Court of Justice ruling and stop construction on the Annexation Wall, to dismantle it, and compensate the victims whose property was expropriated or destroyed. Israel is in fact accelerating construction in many areas. The broad intention seems to be to use the wall as a weapon in Israel's policy, in operation since 1948, of encouraging the dispossession of the Palestinians by removing community and land contiguity and to weaken such communities by destroying the viability of Palestinian economic activities. This onging intentional destruction has been sustained relentlessly since 1948, just 3 years following the end of the Holocaust. Where there is some vibaility and access to markets, actions are taken to undermine such economic viability on a permanent basis. A more obvious example is the Wall's intended removal of accessibility of people in Jerusalem to Bethlehem's ancient cultural, spiritual, and commercial activities. The recently announced decision to force East Jerusalem residents to acquire an Israeli permit in order to visit the West Bank, which will be enforced after the Jerusalem section of the illegal Annexation Wall is completed this summer. The effect will be to weaken community ties since it will force thousands to either to break ties with their friends, family, culture, and career in the West Bank, or to abandon their homes in Jerusalem. One section of the wall penetrates some 20 kilometers into the West Bank at a point at which the territory is only 50 kilometers wide. The Wall plan shows how the Israeli government plans to continue its policy of stealing vast tracts of land from Palestinians including some of the West Bank's most valuable farmland and water resources. The northern West Bank will practically be divided into two. All sorts of pretexts are used to destroy Palestinian family businesses. For example Israel plans to demolish five farms and ranches located on the Jayyous side of the Wall, claiming that they were built without an Israeli permit. These land was always Palestinian and the farmsteads and farm buildings were constructed before Israel occupied the land in 1967. The Israelis intend to use this stolen land, isolated from its Palestinian owners, to construct of a settlement in the Qalqiliya region. Although the wall is virtually impossible to climb over, Israel plan to demolish at least 85 Jerusalem-area Palestinian family homes to make room for a gratuitously large 'security buffer' around the wall. Israel also plan to demolis of up to 3,000 Rafah family homes for a "security moat" which has absolutely no militarily or security benefit to Israel. Source: Palestinian Monitor (re-edited to house style). 19th February, 2005