Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Israeli destruction of Palestinian homes 'violates international law'

Israeli destruction of Palestinian homes 'violates international law'
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
19 October 2004
Israel has systematically violated international law by destroying the
homes of 16,000 people in Gaza's southernmost town regardless of
military necessity, a leading New York-based human rights agency said
yesterday.
Human Rights Watch suggested Israel has used weapons-smuggling by
Palestinian militants as a pretext for the mass demolitions in Rafah
over the past four years, where more than 10 per cent of the people
have lost their homes.
In a 135-page report on the destruction, it says the real reason has
been to clear Palestinians from the border with Egypt and illegally
create a "buffer zone" to protect Israeli troops patrolling the area
up to and after Israel's planned disengagement from Gaza.
The report was unveiled here yesterday as Peter Hansen, Commissioner
of the United Nations Works And Relief Agency (UNWRA) condemned Israel
for flouting international law during its 17-day incursion into
northern Gaza, which left 90 homes demolished and between 600 and 700
people homeless.
Visiting the Jebaliya refugee camp, the worst-affected of the areas
vacated by troops at the weekend, Mr Hansen said the UN had confirmed
107 Palestinian deaths during the operation and declared: "Most of
what we have seen here over the past two weeks is in gross violation
of international humanitarian law. We will go on protesting these
measures, which are not proportionate [and] not relevant to the
targets Israel has chosen to try to hit."
The accusation also loomed large in the Human Rights Watch report on
demolitions in Rafah since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising
in 2000.The report says destruction of civilian property can be
legally justified only when it is "rendered absolutely necessary by
military operations". Kenneth Roth, the executive director, said:
"Israel's conduct in southern Gaza stems from the assumption that
every Palestinian is a suicide bomber and every home a base for
attack. This policy of mass home-destruction leads to serious
violations of international humanitarian law meant to protect
civilians."
The report acknowledges "there is no dispute" that Palestinian
militants are smuggling arms through tunnels under the border. But it
claims first, that Israel has exaggerated the number of tunnels by
confusing the number of entrances - about 90 - with the tunnels
themselves; and second, said it has failed to explore the potentially
more effective use of seismic sensors, electromagnetic induction and
ground radar to detect tunnels.
Using satellite imagery to illustrate the progressive destruction of
homes in the Rafah refugee camp's Block O, close to the border, it
says an Israeli government plan for further widening of the "buffer
zone" would leave "thousands more Palestinians homeless in one of the
most densely populated places on Earth".
The report also challenges Israel's defence of its widely publicised
incursion into Rafah in May which it says resulted in the destruction
of 200 homes, many of them well away from the border. The report says
the destruction was committed in a manner that was "time-consuming,
deliberate and comprehensive, rather than in the heat of the battle".
It calls on the United States and European countries who fund the
rehousing of Palestinians left homeless by Israeli action to demand
reparations for victims or compensation for donors because of the
unlawful nature of the destruction.
The report also calls on Caterpillar Inc the US-based company that
supplies Israel with powerful D9 bulldozers to suspend sales of
equipment used in illegal demolitions.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said soldiers did their utmost to avoid
harming Palestinian civilians but suggested this was not always
possible. "We are operating against terrorist infrastructures set up
within residential areas and attacking us from there," a spokesman
said.
Israel's embattled Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - facing a growing
revolt from right wingers in his own Likud party over his plan for
disengagement from Gaza - last night agreed in principle to the
establishment of a committee to consider the implications of a
referendum on the plan. But he again made clear that he did not favour
a referendum and he was determined to force through a decision on the
disengagement plan in the Knesset next week.
K
-- 
Tonibaruch detto il bagarozzo, dopo aver fatto cilecca per l'ennesima volta
si sfogo' su IPI dicendo:
"Ma a voi funziona bene ..." 

Israeli destruction of Palestinian homes 'violates international law'
E se lo dice lui...
-Stefano