[Media-watch] events in Rafah - from Btselem, Info Centre for human rights in occupied territories

[Sigi D]

Dear MW friends,
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the
Occupied Territories http://www.btselem.org/
(two emails)
have a nice weekend!
S

B'Tselem Update <update at btselem.org>
Sent : 	20 May 2004 12:00:03
To : 	"B'Tselem: Yesterday's Events in Rafah - 20 May,
2004" <update at btselem.org>
Subject : 	B'Tselem: Yesterday's Events in Rafah - 20
May, 2004	
May 20, 2004
======================================
BíTselem ñ Yesterdayís Events in Rafah
======================================

Yesterday afternoon, the IDF shot tank shells in an
effort to disperse a protest
demonstration. One of the shells hit the
demonstrators, killing at least eight
of them and injured many more. According to reports in
the press, most of the
dead are children. 

In the wake of this shelling, the army must completely
halt all military
operations in the Rafah area. 

B'Tselem issued a press release calling on Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and
Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz to immediately order
IDF forces to leave Rafah. 


===============================
Family Flees as Home Demolished 
===============================

Early yesterday morning, IDF snipers took up positions
on the roofs of houses
adjacent to the home of the Hasuna family in the Tel
a-Sultan neighborhood in
Rafah. 

Around 9:30 AM, an IDF bulldozer began demolishing the
familyís house without
warning.  Khaider Hasuna told BíTselem: ìThey started
demolishing the room that
we were sitting in.  My wife and I were screaming and
our children were
terrified.  We took the children and went out to the
yard.  I saw a tank about
twenty meters east of my house.  The tank began to
open fire rapidly toward the
house.î

Hasuna and his family ran back into their house, and
hid in the bathroom. 
Several minutes later, they ventured out again,
climbed a ladder and jumped over
the fence around the house and ran to the house of
their neighbor, the
al-Bardawil family, where they have been staying
since.   


=====================
License to Demolition
=====================

The IDF reportedly plans to demolish hundreds of
additional houses in the Rafah
Refugee Camp in order to widen the ìPhiladelphi Routeî
along the Gaza-Egypt
border, thereby preventing the smuggling of weapons
through tunnels dug under
the route.  The IDF has now asked Attorney General
Menachem Mazuz to legally
sanction these plans for widespread demolitions. This
morning (20 May, 2004),
Mazuz will convene a consultation with senior
officials from the Justice
Ministry and the Military Judge Advocate Generalís
Office regarding this issue.
Last night, BíTselem sent an urgent request to Mazuz
to categorically reject the
IDFís proposal, as it constitutes a severe violation
of international
humanitarian law. 

Israel, as the occupying force in the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip, is obliged
by international humanitarian law to protect the local
population and ensure its
safety and welfare.   The plan violates three basic
principles of international
humanitarian law: The prohibition on destroying
civilian property in occupied
territory unless there is absolute military necessity,
the principle of
proportionality, and the prohibition on collective
punishment. 


=======
Act Now
=======

Write Attorney General Menachem Mazuz (fax:
+972-2-6274481), and Justice
Minister Yosef Lapid (fax +972-2-6285438), and add
your voice to those opposing
the demolitions of houses belonging to innocent
civilians. Send your fax as soon
as possible, as the decision may be made shortly
following tomorrowís meeting.  

Following is a sample letter:

I write to express my deep concern at the governmentís
plan to destroy hundreds
of houses in the Rafah refugee camp, in order to widen
the Philidelphi Route.
This plan severely violates international humanitarian
law, to which Israel is
obligated.
Israel, as the occupying force in the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip, is obliged
to protect the local population and ensure its safety
and welfare.   While
Israel may derogate from its obligations for military
necessity, it must
nevertheless balance military needs with the rights of
the residents of the
occupied territory.
The planned demolitions will render homeless thousands
of civilians who have not
taken part in hostilities. I therefore urge you to
determine that these planned
demolitions run contrary to Israelís legal
obligations. 

Legal background:
http://btselem.gns.co.il/Rafah/English.asp



From : 	B'Tselem Update <update at btselem.org>
Sent : 	19 May 2004 02:35:12

Subject : 	B'Tselem: Today's Events in Rafah - 18 May,
2004
  18.5.04 
 
 	 IDF Incursion into the Rafah Refugee Camp ñ Special
Edition	 
IDF forces launched an incursion into the Rafah
Refugee Camp early this morning. Israeli officials
describe the incursion as the largest military
operation since Operation Defensive Shield in the
Spring of 2002. 
Throughout the day BíTselem has received reports of
severe harm to the civilian population, including
deaths, injury to medical teams, obstruction of
medical care, house demolitions, and damage to
infrastructure including roads, water and electricity.

The IDF has prevented movement into and around the
refugee camp. As a result, most of the following
reports are based solely on telephone testimonies. The
information provided has been verified as much as
possible under the present circumstances. 
The reports are intended as examples and do not
purport to provide the whole picture or the most grave
events taking place in Rafah. 

	 
	House Demolitions in Rafah. Photo: Reuters 
 	 Man Killed Evacuating Body	 

Early this morning, the Red Crescent was called to
evacuate the body of a man killed in the Tel a-Sultan
neighborhood. Ashraf al-Khatib, the ambulance driver,
told B'Tselem that soldiers who had taken over a
nearby house shot at the ambulance team as they tried
to reach the body. A man assisting with the evacuation
was killed.
According to al-Khatib, the IDF has dug trenches
around Tel a-Sultan, preventing ambulances from
entering the neighborhood. The Red Crescent received
calls to treat 15 wounded and four dead in the area
shelled by the IDF, however they are unable to
evacuate them. 

According to reports given to Physicians for Human
Rights-Israel, at least one ambulance was hit by IDF
gunfire during the night. According to a doctor that
was in the ambulance, ìat 3:00 am, we received a call
that a person was injured in the Tel a-Sultan area. We
went into the camp with lights flashing and our siren.
We wore Red Crescent vests and did not see any
soldiers as we went in. The army started shooting at
us suddenly and wildly. The car was hit and we
couldn't continue. We left the ambulance and went into
one of the houses.î 

Muhammad Qamise, a local radio journalist, told
B'Tselem that the IDF has surrounded the Tel a-Sultan
clinic and destroyed one of its walls. The IDF forbade
the 18 clinic staff from leaving. According to Qamise,
many residents report dead and injured who cannot be
evacuated. 

This evening, B'Tselem received reports that the road
connecting Rafah to Khan Yunis had been opened to
ambulances. As a result of coordination with the ICRC,
the wounded from the Yusuf a-Najar hospital in Rafah
are being moved to the European hospital in Khan
Yunis. 


	 	 	
ìThe army started shooting at us suddenly and wildly.
The car was hit and we couldn't continue. We left the
ambulance and went into one of the housesî

Doctor from Rafah 
 
 	 
 	 
 	 

Infringement of the right to medical treatment
 
 	 Civilians Under Fire ñ Reports from Tel a-Sultan
and Block O	 

Tamer Kishta, Journalist : ìAt 2:50 this morning,
apache helicopters fired two missiles at the building
next to the Bilal ben Rabah mosque. The second floor
of the building was demolished entirely. The army
prevented a Red Crescent ambulance from reaching the
dead and wounded. The IDF is now destroying houses
next to the Rafiah Yam settlement. 
Ibrahim Abu Shatat: ìThe IDF has the whole area
surrounded and shot missiles at homes in Block O. Four
people were killed. In the Shabura area another man
was killed. There are no apaches in the air now, but
there is gunfire, tank shelling and soldiers in the
streets. The army destroyed the infrastructure, so we
have no water or electricity.î
Muhammad Qura: ìThe electricity was cut off at four
this morning. I hear a lot of explosions, shelling,
automatic gunfire. I also hear the sound of bulldozers
working. Now they are quite close by. I canít see
anything because Iím afraid to open the windows.î


	 	 	
ìI hear a lot of explosions, shelling, automatic
gunfire. I also hear the sound of bulldozers working.
Now they are quite close by.î

Muhammad Qura, Rafah
 
  
 	 198 Families Made Homeless Over the Weekend	 
BíTselemís detailed investigation into the IDF action
in Rafah this weekend reveals that the IDF destroyed
116 houses, leaving 198 families (1,160 people)
homeless. 
On Sunday, Israelís High Court of Justice ruled to
allow the IDF to demolish houses without a court
hearing in cases of ìurgent military necessity.î This
ruling allows the military to continue its mass house
demolitions in Rafah, and gives the IDF full
discretion as to when to allow a court hearing prior
to demolition. In issuing this ruling, the Court has
shirked its obligation to balance security
considerations with the rights of Palestinian
civilians who are not involved in the hostilities. 
When addressing events in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, the Court consistently disregards its
obligations regarding human rights and international
law, and uncritically adopts the position of the
security establishment. 
The recent demolitions are not an isolated event.
Since the beginning of 2004, the IDF has demolished
284 homes in Rafah, leaving 2,185 Palestinians
homeless. Over the past three and a half years, the
IDF has demolished some 1,800 homes in the Rafah
Refugee Camp. House demolition on such a massive scale
cannot be justified as ìurgent military need.î 
In a press release, BíTselem stated that the death of
IDF soldiers cannot justify severe harm to civilians,
who were not involved in the hostilities. Such massive
destructions of civilian property are illegal under
international humanitarian law. 
BíTselem calls on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to order
an immediate halt to plans for further demolitions.
The organization also calls on the Israeli government
to compensate families who lost their homes and to
provide them with alternative housing.
	 	
House Demolitions in Rafah. Photo: Reuters 

 	 Background on Israelís demolitions in the Gaza
Strip 
 
 	 Nowís the Time to Act	 
Circulate this page, write letters to your local
newspaper, convince others to take action. Write to
Prime Minister Sharon, and to your Israeli ambassador,
reminding them that the IDF is not upholding its
obligations under international humanitarian law: it
is forbidden to shoot civilians who take no part in
hostilities; the wounded must be evacuated as quickly
as possible; it is forbidden to demolish houses,
except as a last resort in the course of fighting; it
is forbidden to employ collective punishments of the
civilian population.


	
	
		
____________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" 
your friends today! Download Messenger Now 
http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html