Various international journalists and Israeli sources confirmed the killing, on January 4, by Israeli shells, of seven Palestinians farming in their strawberry farm. Six of these were children from the same Ghaben family, with ages 10,11,12,14,16 and 17. The description of Palestinians regularly murdered in their homes and farms, by Israeli bombing and shelling, as terrorists, defies credibility. It is perhaps relevant to point out that it was Israel that introduced terrorism in the Middle East. The late Professor Israel Shahak, a Holocaust survivor and Chairman of the Israeli League for Human and Civil rights, stated: " There is nothing new in the fact that Israel is a terrorist state, which, almost from its inception, has used its intelligence service [the Mossad] to assassinate people on foreign soil with any violence or terror it considers necessary for its ends."

The Palestinians have been subjected to an illegal Israeli occupation that has been allowed to stand for over 37 years, in defiance of international law and repeated Security Council resolutions. Israeli practices during this brutal occupation include extra-judicial assassination, detention of thousands without charge or trial, torture, daily humiliation, demolition of thousands of homes and expropriation of land for the creation of illegal Jewish settlements. These practices are in violation of virtually every article of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and are defined by international law as war crimes. These practices have been condemned by all international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Israeli human rights groups like B'Tselem and Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights.

If Israel truly cares for peace and security for its citizens, it should comply with international law and terminate completely its illegal occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land.