Israel Ends Razing of Homes Tied to Bombers | February 19, 2005
The announcement for ceasing the practice of razing the homes of suicide bombers removes a significant stumbling block in efforts to bring peace to the Holy Land. We pray that peace prevails so that neither Israelis nor Palestinians will have to continue to live in a violent political, social, and military environment.
By Laura King, Times Staff Writer
Feb. 18, 2005
JERUSALEM — Israel announced Thursday that it was halting a practice particularly hated by Palestinians and repeatedly denounced by human rights groups: the demolition of the family homes of suicide bombers and other attackers.
The step was the latest on a growing list of goodwill gestures by Israel and the Palestinians meant to lay the groundwork for a return to full-scale peace negotiations under the Palestinian Authority's pragmatic new leader, Mahmoud Abbas.
The demolition of bombers' homes had struck a strong symbolic chord with Palestinians, who viewed the practice as an unjust form of collective punishment for attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis in 4 1/2 years of fighting.
Israeli troops have demolished the family homes of nearly 700 Palestinian attackers, many of them suicide bombers, according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. Under military rules, Israeli authorities were not required to prove that the families involved had any advance knowledge of the plans of a bomber or gunman.
Many of the demolitions took place in the dead of night, within hours of an attack. The families often had to flee with nothing more than the nightclothes they were wearing. In many cases, homes that were blown up or knocked down were compounds that housed several generations of a single family.
The practice emphasized the gulf between Israeli and Palestinian perceptions of their own and the other side's suffering.
The homes usually were razed as Israelis were transfixed by scenes of carnage from a suicide attack: the smoldering carcass of a blown-up bus or the devastated interior of a cafe or pizza parlor. The destruction of an attacker's home was usually mentioned by Israeli media as a brief footnote, if at all.
Palestinian and other Arab media were more likely to dwell on a demolition's aftermath, depicting sobbing women and children picking their way through the wreckage of their home, rather than reporting in detail on the suicide attack and its Israeli casualty toll.
Israel's army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, whose tenure was cut short Wednesday, was one of the first senior Israeli officials to publicly raise misgivings about the practice, arguing that such punitive measures sowed fury and hostility among Palestinians, and did not serve as a deterrent to attacks as intended.
Yaalon appointed a military panel last year to look into the demolitions; its recommendation that the practice be halted was reported Thursday by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Within hours, Yaalon's boss, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, acting with unusual speed on an internal finding, ordered that the practice be stopped immediately.
When announcing the decision, the army emphasized that Israel had acted within its legal rights when it knocked down bombers' homes.
Palestinians and human rights groups have expressed doubt that the practice would survive a challenge under international law.
Palestinian schoolteacher Atta Sarasrah, 52, said he had no idea that his 17-year-old son, Hazem, was going to carry out a suicide attack in Jerusalem in July 2002. Hazem killed only himself in the bombing, and injured seven Israelis.
"Why should I have been held responsible for my son's decision, which was made and carried out without my knowledge?" asked Sarasrah, whose two-story home in the West Bank village of Beit Jala was demolished hours after the bombing, leaving his extended family homeless. They now live in cramped quarters with other relatives.
According to B'Tselem, more than 4,200 Palestinians were left homeless when 675 attackers' homes were bulldozed or dynamited over the last 53 months of fighting.
Separately, Israel has razed thousands of other homes and buildings, most of them in the Gaza Strip, to deprive Palestinian gunmen of cover for staging attacks against Israeli troops and Jewish settlers. Demolitions carried out for security reasons were not affected by Thursday's order.
The decision to stop destroying the homes of attackers comes as Israel prepares to free about 500 Palestinian prisoners, nearly 50 of whom were convicted of playing some role in attacks against Israelis.
Palestinians see the releases as an essential good-faith gesture, but the decision has triggered an emotional backlash in Israel. Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition by relatives of attack victims to block the prisoner release, which is expected to take place soon.
"We found that the composition of the list of prisoners was not made lightly, and the list's makeup takes into account possible considerations, including the expected danger posed by released prisoners," the high court's ruling said.
In another concession to the Palestinians, Israel announced that it would allow Israeli Arabs to visit relatives in the Gaza Strip. Such visits have been banned during most of the current conflict, and many divided families have not seen one another for years.
Since taking office Jan. 15, Abbas has condemned all attacks against Israelis and deployed Palestinian security forces in "hot spots" to help prevent them. He also has secured an agreement from Palestinian militant groups including Hamas, to hold off on attacks against Israel, which has largely held despite occasional flare-ups.
A Palestinian Cabinet minister, Ghassan Khatib, called Israeli concessions, such as the halt to home demolitions, "a step in the right direction."
"It won't mean much unless Israel begins fully abiding by international law," he added. "But if it does, this is very, very meaningful."
The two sides, meanwhile, have embarked on a round of consultations with a new U.S. security envoy, Lt. Gen. William Ward, who is on his first visit to the region since his appointment this month by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Ward's job will be to usher on-the-ground measures such as an Israeli troop pullback from West Bank population centers and Palestinians' efforts to prevent militant attacks. Details are still being hashed out for an Israeli withdrawal from the town of Jericho, which is to be the first of five cities on which Israel loosens its military grip. The pullback may take place as early as next week.
Ward met Thursday with Sharon, after holding talks with Abbas the evening before. The American envoy made no comment after either meeting, but Sharon's office said the prime minister had told Ward that security was the main issue and "Israel will not make any allowances for the Palestinians in these areas."
Palestinian officials were quoted in news reports as describing Ward, who has commanded peacekeeping forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as "serious and professional."
Taken from the Los Angelas Times
Posted by admin at February 19, 2005 01:03 PM
