Tel Aviv — Despite the opposition of the White House and thousands of peace demonstrators, Israel said yesterday that it will intensify its operations in the Gaza Strip and demolish “hundreds” more Palestinian homes in an effort to stop arms smuggling and attacks against its troops.
Yesterday, Israel’s Supreme Court gave its approval to the plan, which is expected to leave thousands of people homeless, by lifting a temporary injunction on the demolition of homes in the Rafah refugee camp.
The court rejected an appeal by Palestinian families, ruling that the demolitions could be justified as a self-defence measure.
“Hundreds of houses have been marked for destruction,” aides quoted Moshe Yaalon, Israeli army chief of staff, as telling a weekly cabinet meeting.
No time frame was given for the demolition, but Israel’s Channel One television reported that troops and vehicles were massing outside Rafah last night after the Supreme Court’s decision.
A late-night missile strike in Gaza City knocked out power to 40,000 people while targeting an office of Palestinian president Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.
During the cabinet meeting, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz reportedly said that he will step up military activity. “We started continuous air strikes.
We will deepen the fighting,” news agency reports quoted him as saying.
Last week, over objections from the United Nations and European Union, Israeli bulldozers destroyed dozens of homes after a rocket attack on an Israeli armoured personnel carrier in Rafah that killed five soldiers. The rocket was apparently fired from the row of buildings that is now being demolished.
The UN says 88 homes were demolished last week in Rafah, leaving 1,100 people homeless. According to UN figures, which the Israeli army says are exaggerated, more than 12,000 Rafah residents have been made homeless since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September, 2000.
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia accused the Israeli court of “ethnic-cleansing crimes and collective punishment of innocent civilians.”
The Palestinian Authority was expected to seek a UN Security Council resolution to stop the demolitions.
The plan to bulldoze yet more homes also came in the face of criticism from Washington, Israel’s staunchest ally. Speaking at a gathering of world leaders at the World Economic Forum in neighbouring Jordan, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the White House could not support home demolitions as a military tactic.
“We know Israel has a right for self-defence, but the kind of actions that they’re taking in Rafah with the destruction of Palestinian homes we oppose,” Mr. Powell said.
Mr. Powell also slammed Mr. Arafat for a weekend speech in which the president, quoting the Koran, urged his followers to “find what strength you have to terrorize your enemy, and the enemy of God.”
While Mr. Arafat also said “if they want peace, then let us have peace,” Mr.
Powell said such comments make it “exceptionally difficult” to continue the peace process.
The apparent aim of Israel’s home-demolition plan in Rafah is to widen what’s known as the Philadelphi route, a thin stretch of land running between the Gaza Strip and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Israel plans to hold on to the route even in the event of a pullout from Gaza, saying it needs to maintain a military presence there in order to halt arms smuggling across the border.
Last night, dozens of Palestinians began evacuating their homes after hearing news of the Supreme Court’s decision. “I don’t know what to take. I will start with clothes or the refrigerator or the television,” 52-year-old Abed al-Majid Abu Shamala said as he prepared to leave a four-storey building in Rafah.
News of Mr. Yaalon’s plan came a day after a massive peace rally in Tel Aviv called for a withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and settlers from Gaza. In one of the largest demonstrations in recent years, an estimated 120,000 people rallied in Rabin Square.
Many protesters said they were motivated by a week that saw 13 Israeli soldiers die sustaining what they see as a needless occupation. Thirty-two Palestinians were also killed in last week’s fighting.
Dovish demonstrators found themselves in the odd position of supporting an old enemy, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has sworn to go ahead with a Gaza pullout despite the rejection of his plan by his own Likud Party in a referendum earlier this month that saw 60,000 members overwhelmingly vote it down.
Labour leader Shimon Peres fired up the crowd by telling them momentum was building for a withdrawal from Gaza after 37 years of occupation. “This is a rally bearing the wish of five million Israelis, versus the 60,000 voting Likud members. Some 80 per cent of our people want peace; 1 per cent are trying to block it,” the veteran peacemaker said to prolonged applause. “We will say goodbye to Gaza.”
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