Mr. Speaker, according to a new report issued by the organization Human Rights Watch, since January 2001, 52 Palestinian suicide bombings have killed more than 250 Israeli civilians and injured some 2,000 more.
According to the analysis of Human Rights Watch, these attacks are of such a size and nature that they clearly fall under the category of crimes against humanity, and that those who carry out suicide bombings are not martyrs but war criminals, as are the people who plan such attacks.
International law states that those responsible be held to account. The failure of the political leadership of the Palestinian Authority to exercise authority to prevent or control groups, such as Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the popular front of the liberation of Palestine, clearly does not meet the standards of international law.
I call upon our government to condemn the armed groups and the complicit political leadership responsible, and demand that they halt the suicide attacks on civilians immediately.