- RAFAH REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip
(AP) -- Israeli army bulldozers flattened 30 houses and a mosque in this
refugee camp Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, accusing Israel of systematically
razing homes to widen a military buffer zone.
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- The military said it only targeted buildings from which
shots were fired overnight at Israeli forces, but did not know how many
structures were demolished. The governor of Rafah, Majed Agha, said about
400 Palestinians were left homeless.
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- Frantic residents threw mattresses and blankets from
second-floor windows as beams and walls came crashing down around them.
One woman, standing near a bulldozer, waved a white flag in a failed attempt
to slow the demolition and buy time to salvage her belongings. A crying
girl helped her mother carry a mattress.
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- Army officials initially insisted the razed houses had
been empty, but then said the claim was still being checked.
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- In the West Bank, Israeli security forces trying to dismantle
a synagogue in a West Bank settlement outpost scuffled with dozens of Jewish
settler activists. About 150 activists tried to block the soldiers with
barricades of burning tires and stones. Three soldiers were lightly injured
and 14 settlers were arrested, Army Radio reported.
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- The synagogue was torn down, but troops left half a dozen
trailer homes at West Tapuah outpost untouched. It was the first attempt
by the army to remove a structure from a populated outpost since June.
Dror Etkes of Peace Now, an Israeli group that opposes the settlement movement,
said the demolition was a meaningless display, noting that settlers simply
rebuild such structures after soldiers leave.
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- Under the U.S.-led "road map" peace plan, Israel
has to remove dozens of settlement outposts, but has taken down only a
few. The Palestinians have also failed to meet their first obligations,
including a clampdown on militant groups.
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- Israel on Tuesday expelled a Palestinian Islamic Jihad
militant from the West Bank town of Jenin to the Gaza Strip - a punitive
measure that has angered Palestinians in the past. Anwar Abu Zahou, 29,
had been in Israeli detention for the past 11 months, Palestinian security
officials said. Israeli military officials said he had had chosen expulsion
over remaining in prison.
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- In the past two years, Israel has expelled 26 Palestinians
from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, including a woman who was accused
of sewing the explosives belt for a suicide bomber.
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- Israel has demolished hundreds of houses in the Gaza
refugee camp of Rafah, near the Egyptian border, in more than three years
of fighting, saying the buildings gave cover to gunmen and weapons smugglers.
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- The Palestinians say Israel is clearing large swaths
in the camp to distance built-up areas from the narrow strip Israeli troops
patrol along the Egyptian border. Israel has erected a tall metal barrier
south of the camp as a shield for troops.
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- The destruction is part of a plan by Israel "to
create a wide buffer zone and consolidate Israeli military control in the
area," Agha said.
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- Also razed Tuesday was a neighborhood mosque, Al Tawhid,
which had been partially demolished Saturday, residents said. The mosque
is about 70 yards from the Israeli metal barrier. "This is a crime
against God's law and human law as well," said preacher Ibrahim Abu
Jazar.
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- The military said it was still checking the report on
the mosque. In the past three years, troops have generally stayed clear
of holy sites.
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- Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, meanwhile, asked
foreign diplomats to urge their governments to speak out against Israel's
separation barrier in the West Bank, ahead of a Feb. 23 hearing by the
world court.
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- The Palestinians have asked the International Court of
Justice to rule on the legality of the barrier, which has severely disrupted
the daily lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians. The Palestinians
say the barrier amounts to a land grab and will make it impossible to create
a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
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- "We ask the entire world to restrain the Israeli
madness of expansion," Qureia said after meeting with more than a
dozen diplomats. "This is a wall of annexation and expansion, not
for security."
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- Israel says it needs the divider to keep out Palestinian
attackers who have killed hundreds of Israelis in bombings since September
2000.
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- On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered
a review of the barrier, saying minor changes in the route and technical
arrangements could be made to lessen the hardship it creates for Palestinians.
Israel has been looking for ways to deflect growing international criticism
of the barrier.
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- Also Tuesday, Sharon adviser Raanan Gissin said the prime
minister believes Jordan's leading role in the campaign against the West
Bank barrier "is damaging and hurting our relations."
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- Sharon told parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee on Monday that Jordan's support for the process at the world
court "is definitely a departure from the (Israeli-Jordanian) relationship
of near strategic cooperation."
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- Jordan, Israel's eastern neighbor, fears the barrier
- a 440-mile network of fences, walls and trenches - will lead to large-scale
immigration by Palestinians, who already make up a majority of the population
in the kingdom.
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- Qureia, meanwhile, was evasive about reports he met twice
last week with Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres. One of the meetings
was also attended by U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer, embassy officials said.
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- "Our meetings with the Israeli left have not ceased,"
Qureia said, adding that while communication with Sharon's office has not
broken down entirely, "apparently they (Sharon and his aides) are
busy with something else."
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- It had been widely expected that Qureia and Sharon would
meet soon after Qureia became prime minister in November. However, Qureia
has said he won't agree to a meeting unless such talks produce progress.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3647561,00.html
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