The heads of the Fatah and Tanzim movements planned to send the following letter to one of the major U.S. newspapers last Tuesday. They put it on hold after Israel's assassination of Saleh Shehadeh in Gaza.

We know that the names on this article are unknown to most Americans. And we understand, because we read your newspapers and watch your news shows, how you feel about us. We are a "gang" and a "bunch of murderers." We support and lead political organizations with strange names - Fatah and Tanzim. We "can't be trusted." But maybe, just this once, you should drop these prejudices and listen to what we have to say. Here is what we say, directly, to the people of Israel:

We, from the leaders of the most influential political movements among the Palestinian people; we, part of those who represent those who, like you, have been orphaned and widowed; we, who desire the comfort and security of not just a state but a home - we choose the future. It is in the name of that future, and in the name of all of those who have lost their lives that we make this declaration: we will do everything in our power to end attacks on Israeli civilians, on innocent men, women and children. We will do this without seeking or demanding any prior gains.

Why now?

The bombings of the last few months have transformed your society. Those bombings horrified and angered your people, and sent your nation into despair. It did that to us. It sparked a rethinking of who we are as a people. It marked a shift in our perceptions - not of you, but of ourselves. For a time we were able to put this horror out of our minds. We were - and we are - the oppressed, the dispossessed, and the forgotten, but the fundamental and unalterable truth of our conflict can be read in our eyes and seen in our heart.

Our eyes look out to see what you are doing to us in our towns and villages every day, but these same eyes look in at the hardened hearts of our children. It may take a generation for us to teach our children a new way, to soothe their bitterness, to erase their hatred, to teach them that there is hope for the future. But we must begin. It is for them, for their future, that we have made this historic decision. We are against targeting the innocents.

The truth of our conflict can also be read in our streets. In Gaza a crate of tomatoes costs the equivalent of twenty cents. But the tomatoes can not be purchased, for no one can afford them. Our hotels are empty, our restaurants deserted, our factories closed, our businesses bankrupt, and our children hungry. And for you? You can survive, for a time, with ten percent inflation, and growing unemployment, and an army of young men in occupation of a foreign land.

And soon - perhaps not tomorrow, or next week, or next year - but inevitably and eventually, your hotels will empty, your factories will close, your businesses will be bankrupted, your children will go hungry and your soldiers will want to come home. You have friends in the world who will support you. But not forever. And wouldn't you rather support yourselves?

There are those, in both of our societies, who will say that this statement is simply a tactical political maneuver: that we hope to gain political points to gain political leverage. And they are right. We hope that you will reciprocate the historic declaration that we here make, and acknowledge the truth of the statement that "peace cannot be built on a platform of violence against innocents."

Simply, no peace with the occupation. You must cease strangling our cities, killing our youths, taking our land for your settlements, ripping up our orchards, humiliating our women and children, detaining our young men in your squalid camps, and demonizing those we choose to lead us. You have done all of these things and continue to do them, and you know it. But whether you stop these practices, or not, we will not shift our declaration. The rivers of blood that have so embittered our peoples will be stanched. The suicide bombings will be brought an end. By us. Now.

You, the people of Israel, should understand clearly what we are proposing. We cannot stop the violence, today, immediately. There are those in our society who will attempt to undermine and deter our efforts. Some of them, unfortunately, may succeed. But we will now have the weight of public opinion on our side.

So too, there are those in your society and even at the very top of your government who may attempt to provoke us. They will try to underestimate this declaration. They have done so before. These people are our enemies, they must also be yours. They are the enemies of peace. While provoked, we will do everything in our power to keep our self-restraint.

You must understand one other thing. We will not stop fighting for our land, we will not renounce our dream, or betray our birthright. We will continue to resist your military occupation of our lands and cities, your building of settlements, your house demolitions, your plan to deport our people.

Your occupation is illegitimate and we will resist it - your soldiers are occupiers and will be treated as such. This is not a surrender, this is not a retreat. We will continue to fight every moment of every day for our rights and for our state. We are certain that we will achieve this, that we will be victorious. But we will not do so by targeting the innocent.