Israeli Bulldozers Flatten 30 Gaza Houses
Tuesday January 20, 2004 7:01 PM
By TAMER ZIARA
Associated Press Writer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3647561,00.html

RAFAH REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli army
bulldozers flattened 30 houses and a mosque in this
refugee camp Tuesday, Palestinian officials said,
accusing Israel of systematically razing homes to
widen a military buffer zone.

The military said it only targeted buildings from
which shots were fired overnight at Israeli forces,
but did not know how many structures were demolished.
The governor of Rafah, Majed Agha, said about 400
Palestinians were left homeless.

Frantic residents threw mattresses and blankets from
second-floor windows as beams and walls came crashing
down around them. One woman, standing near a
bulldozer, waved a white flag in a failed attempt to
slow the demolition and buy time to salvage her
belongings. A crying girl helped her mother carry a
mattress.

Army officials initially insisted the razed houses had
been empty, but then said the claim was still being
checked.

In the West Bank, Israeli security forces trying to
dismantle a synagogue in a West Bank settlement
outpost scuffled with dozens of Jewish settler
activists. About 150 activists tried to block the
soldiers with barricades of burning tires and stones.
Three soldiers were lightly injured and 14 settlers
were arrested, Army Radio reported.

The synagogue was torn down, but troops left half a
dozen trailer homes at West Tapuah outpost untouched.
It was the first attempt by the army to remove a
structure from a populated outpost since June. Dror
Etkes of Peace Now, an Israeli group that opposes the
settlement movement, said the demolition was a
meaningless display, noting that settlers simply
rebuild such structures after soldiers leave.

Under the U.S.-led ``road map'' peace plan, Israel has
to remove dozens of settlement outposts, but has taken
down only a few. The Palestinians have also failed to
meet their first obligations, including a clampdown on
militant groups.

Israel on Tuesday expelled a Palestinian Islamic Jihad
militant from the West Bank town of Jenin to the Gaza
Strip - a punitive measure that has angered
Palestinians in the past. Anwar Abu Zahou, 29, had
been in Israeli detention for the past 11 months,
Palestinian security officials said. Israeli military
officials said he had had chosen expulsion over
remaining in prison.

In the past two years, Israel has expelled 26
Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip,
including a woman who was accused of sewing the
explosives belt for a suicide bomber.

Israel has demolished hundreds of houses in the Gaza
refugee camp of Rafah, near the Egyptian border, in
more than three years of fighting, saying the
buildings gave cover to gunmen and weapons smugglers.

The Palestinians say Israel is clearing large swaths
in the camp to distance built-up areas from the narrow
strip Israeli troops patrol along the Egyptian border.
Israel has erected a tall metal barrier south of the
camp as a shield for troops.

The destruction is part of a plan by Israel ``to
create a wide buffer zone and consolidate Israeli
military control in the area,'' Agha said.

Also razed Tuesday was a neighborhood mosque, Al
Tawhid, which had been partially demolished Saturday,
residents said. The mosque is about 70 yards from the
Israeli metal barrier. ``This is a crime against God's
law and human law as well,'' said preacher Ibrahim Abu
Jazar.

The military said it was still checking the report on
the mosque. In the past three years, troops have
generally stayed clear of holy sites.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, meanwhile,
asked foreign diplomats to urge their governments to
speak out against Israel's separation barrier in the
West Bank, ahead of a Feb. 23 hearing by the world
court.

The Palestinians have asked the International Court of
Justice to rule on the legality of the barrier, which
has severely disrupted the daily lives of tens of
thousands of Palestinians. The Palestinians say the
barrier amounts to a land grab and will make it
impossible to create a viable Palestinian state in the
West Bank and Gaza.

``We ask the entire world to restrain the Israeli
madness of expansion,'' Qureia said after meeting with
more than a dozen diplomats. ``This is a wall of
annexation and expansion, not for security.''

Israel says it needs the divider to keep out
Palestinian attackers who have killed hundreds of
Israelis in bombings since September 2000.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered
a review of the barrier, saying minor changes in the
route and technical arrangements could be made to
lessen the hardship it creates for Palestinians.
Israel has been looking for ways to deflect growing
international criticism of the barrier.

Also Tuesday, Sharon adviser Raanan Gissin said the
prime minister believes Jordan's leading role in the
campaign against the West Bank barrier ``is damaging
and hurting our relations.''

Sharon told parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee on Monday that Jordan's support for the
process at the world court ``is definitely a departure
from the (Israeli-Jordanian) relationship of near
strategic cooperation.''

Jordan, Israel's eastern neighbor, fears the barrier -
a 440-mile network of fences, walls and trenches -
will lead to large-scale immigration by Palestinians,
who already make up a majority of the population in
the kingdom.

Qureia, meanwhile, was evasive about reports he met
twice last week with Israeli opposition leader Shimon
Peres. One of the meetings was also attended by U.S.
Ambassador Dan Kurtzer, embassy officials said.

``Our meetings with the Israeli left have not
ceased,'' Qureia said, adding that while communication
with Sharon's office has not broken down entirely,
``apparently they (Sharon and his aides) are busy with
something else.''

It had been widely expected that Qureia and Sharon
would meet soon after Qureia became prime minister in
November. However, Qureia has said he won't agree to a
meeting unless such talks produce progress.



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