Amnesty Int'l: Israel razed 3,000 homes since intifada
began
By Reuters

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/428773.html

Amnesty International said Tuesday that Israel has
destroyed more than 3,000 Palestinian houses since the
second intifada began three-and-a-half years ago, and
demanded the army stop razing civilian homes.

Amnesty called on Israel's military to halt
demolitions of Palestinian buildings "without absolute
military necessity" in a report issued amidst Israeli
threats to raze hundreds of houses in the southern
Gaza Strip in an assault on militant strongholds.

The rights group, which frequently issues reports
critical of Israel, said in its 65-page document that
most of the house demolitions were "punitive" measures
against innocent civilians.

"House demolitions are usually carried out without
warning, often at night, and the occupants are
forcibly evicted with no time to salvage their
belongings," Amnesty said in its report.

Responding to the dossier, the Foreign Ministry said
the army only demolished Palestinian buildings used by
militants to fire on troops or hide weapons smuggling
tunnels. It blamed militants for using civilian homes
as cover for their attacks.

"When terrorists fire from within civilian structures
or activate roadside charges from trees and fields,
military necessity dictates the demolition of these
locations," it said.

"Under international law, these structures are
considered legitimate military targets. Therefore, in
the midst of combat, when dictated by operational
necessity, Israeli security forces may lawfully
destroy structures used by terrorists," it said.

Amnesty's report was issued as Israeli armor massed
around southern Gaza's Rafah refugee camp, which has
borne the brunt of the demolitions, after the army
threatened to raze hundreds of buildings in a militant
hotbed near the Egyptian border.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) set up rows of tents to
take in civilians fleeing their houses in Rafah ahead
of the expected raid.

A majority of Israeli house demolitions have taken
place in Rafah, a flashpoint zone that has seen
frequent attacks against troops patrolling the narrow
Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Seven of the 13 soldiers killed last week died in
Rafah.

The area is a hotbed of weapons smuggling by militants
who bring arms into Gaza from Egypt through
underground tunnels.

Amnesty said Israeli forces had destroyed over 2,000
houses in Rafah and damaged some 16,000 since the
uprising began. UNRWA said 12,600 Rafah residents had
been made homeless.

The Amnesty report also said Israel had dynamited
around 500 homes of Palestinians known or suspected of
involvement in suicide bombings in a practice the
report called "collective punishment" that it said
violated international law.

Amnesty also criticized Israel for destroying
Palestinian homes constructed without building
permits. It accused Israel of systematically denying
Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs permission to build in
order to grab their land.







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