Israel steps up its barbaric military campaign in Gaza, reports Khaled Amayreh who also reviews a recently-released Human Rights Watch report A report released on Monday by the human rights organisation, Human Rights Watch (HRW), incriminated Israel for the wanton destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip. The report, which coincides with the recent demolition by the Israeli army of more than 100 Palestinian homes in northern Gaza, accused the Zionist regime of demolishing Palestinian homes for political reasons. The 135-page document, entitled "Razing Rafah: Mass home demolitions in the Gaza Strip", indicts Israel for carrying out wanton house demolitions in Rafah in May which it says go far beyond any military necessity. "The Israeli army has apparently failed to explore well- established methods to discover and destroy tunnels like seismic sensors, electromagnetic induction and ground-penetrating radar which would obviate or reduce the need for army incursions into Rafah that has resulted in destroyed homes and sometimes loss of life." According to the report, which relies on satellite images, graphs and photographs, the systematic demolition of homes in Rafah was primarily the Israeli objective to have a wide and empty border area to facilitate long-term control over the Gaza Strip. The report rejects Israeli army justifications for destroying Palestinian homes. "The Israeli army has a series of sophisticated arguments to justify the destruction in Rafah. However, these arguments crumble under scrutiny, revealing a pattern of unjustified abuse and destruction." The report also documents the Israeli destruction in Rafah as apparent retribution for the killing of five Israeli soldiers by Palestinian resistance fighters. It pointed out that major Israeli operations in May resulted in the complete destruction of as many as 200 homes, many of which are far from the border area. "Armored bulldozers plowed through houses and shops indiscriminately, tore up roads, destroyed water and sewage systems and turned two agricultural fields into barren patches of earth." The report also criticises Caterpillar INC, the US-based company that produces the powerful D-9 bulldozer used by the Israeli army. HRW called on Caterpillar to suspend sales of D-9 bulldozers parts or maintenance services to the Israeli army so long as they use the machinery in illegal demolition. While the report stressed that the demolition constituted a serious violation of the international humanitarian law, it refrained from criticising the US government for consistently supporting Israel and ignoring its often criminal practices against the Palestinians. Since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation, it is believed that the Israeli army has destroyed as many as 8,000 Palestinian homes and buildings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, leaving as many as 40,000 people homeless. The demolitions, aimed mainly at punishing the Palestinians and inflicting maximum social and economic suffering on them, are considered a war crime under international law. However, due to virtually unrestricted support and backing from the US, the Israeli regime has consistently managed to ignore the rule of international law as far as its treatment of the Palestinians is concerned. Two weeks ago, the US vetoed a draft of the UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to the Israeli army rampage in northern Gaza that resulted in the death of 139 Palestinians, the bulk of them civilians, as well as the destruction of some 100 homes. The destruction of Palestinian homes and towns has always characterised the Israeli treatment and approach toward the non-Jewish population in Palestine. In 1948, the Israeli army destroyed and nearly obliterated as many as 470 Palestinian towns and villages whose inhabitants had been expelled to neighbouring Arab countries and have since been living in refugees camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria. Moreover, when Israel occupied the rest of mandatory Palestine (the West Bank and Gaza Strip) in 1967, house demolition became the "modus operandi" of the Israeli policy toward the Palestinians. It is widely believed that as many as 40,000 homes and buildings have been destroyed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by Israel in the past 37 years.
