- Dozens of Palestinians from Rafah in the southern Gaza
Strip, close to the Philadelphi Route, began leaving their houses Sunday,
fearing that their homes would be destroyed by Israel Defense Forces, following
a High Court of Justice decision rejecting a petition on behalf of 13 Rafah
residents requesting a ban on further IDF demolitions of homes.
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- The Rafah residents' petition said the IDF planned to
demolish houses in order to widen the Philadelphi Route, which demarcates
the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
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- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday voiced
American opposition to the demolitions, and called for an end to the current
cycle of violence.
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- "We know that Israel has a right for self-defense
but the kind of action they are taking in Rafah with the destruction of
Palestinian homes, we oppose," Powell told a news conference in Jordan,
where he met Saturday with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.
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- IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Moshe Ya'alon told
the cabinet Sunday that the army was planning to destroy hundreds more
Palestinian houses.
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- "Hundreds of Palestinian houses along the Israel-Egypt
border have been targeted for demolition," he said.
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- Ya'alon said the targeted houses were vacant, Israel
Radio reported.
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- The three-member High Court panel said that the IDF was
entitled to carry out such demolitions along the Philadelphi route for
security reasons, "according to operational needs" or if the
military determined that soldiers' lives were in danger.
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- Justices Eliahu Mazza, Dorit Beinisch and Eliezer Rivlin
accepted the army's pledge that it would refrain from demolishing houses
unnecessarily and would only raze homes in instances of an immediate military
need to do so, if soldiers' lives were in danger or if the success of a
military operation is in jeopardy.
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- The IDF will have to publish its intention to demolish
houses that do not meet these conditions and give the residents the opportunity
to have a court hearing against the demolitions.
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- Attorney Enar Helman, representing the state, told the
court Sunday that the reality is that in 99 percent of the demolitions
in the Rafah area, it is not possible to pre-warn the residents as Palestinians
militants then booby-trap the homes slated for demolition.
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- A lawyer for the petitioners voiced hope the court's
decision could ultimately limit the scope of destruction.
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- "We are sure that the army will think very carefully
about destroying houses in the future. This is a clear decision that there
are certain conditions in which houses can be demolished," attorney
Yunes Tamim told reporters.
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- But Colonel Shuki Rinsky, a deputy IDF commander in Gaza,
told reporters outside the court: "If there will continue to be a
danger to soldiers, we will continue to destroy houses without giving prior
warning."
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- Rinsky said such a policy would be in adherence to the
court's decision.
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- Justice Mazza on Friday issued an interim order temporarily
barring the IDF from demolishing homes in the refugee camp, if the action
was not part of a regular military operation.
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- Over the weekend, the IDF conducted a mass demolition
of buildings in the Rafah refugee camp, destroying as many as 88 homes
and leaving more than 1,000 people homeless, the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency (UNRWA) said Saturday.
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- IDF armored bulldozers knocked down dozens of structures,
trying to secure the area for soldiers searching for the body parts of
five comrades killed in an attack Wednesday. The troops completed their
search and withdrew from the area Saturday morning.
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- According to the IDF, all of the homes destroyed in Rafah
over the past few days were demolished during battles with Palestinians,
not as part of any plan to destroy houses.
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- Israel vows Gaza crackdown
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- In the wake of a week of violence in Gaza that left 13
IDF soldiers dead, Israel vowed Sunday to escalate its military activities
in the Strip, with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz telling the weekly cabinet
meeting that the army would work to "create a new reality" along
the Gaza-Egypt border.
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- Ya'alon also pledged Sunday to intensify actions against
militants who have stepped up their attacks on troops.
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- Ya'alon said Palestinian militants were trying to smuggle
long-range Katyusha rockets into the Gaza Strip. The rockets, with a 12-kilometer
range, could upset the military balance in the volatile coastal area, Mofaz
said.
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- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the cabinet Sunday that
Israel has asked Egypt for assistance in halting weapons-smuggling by Palestinian
militants across the border into Gaza. He also said he had asked the United
States for help.
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- Sharon also said that Israel, "will not permit Palestinian
terror the capability it strives to achieve - to threaten the heart of
the nation - even after the separation from Gaza."
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- Sharon also praised the Israel Defense Forces soldiers
in Gaza, saying they were fighting with "heroism, dedication and skill
against the Palestinian terror that also threatens Israel itself."
He also expressed condolences to the families of the 13 soldiers killed
there last week.
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- Israel Radio quoted Ya'alon as telling ministers that
Egypt has done very little to prevent weapons from being smuggled into
Gaza from its territory.
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- Mofaz said the army would take actions to create a "different
reality" along the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent arms smuggling. He
said Israel had already begun an air strike campaign and would escalate
its military activities.
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- "We will deepen the fighting," Mofaz was quoted
as saying by an official in the meeting.
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- Sharon said that Israel is conducting talks with Egypt
aimed at modifying the countries' historic Camp David peace agreement,
which limited the amount of troops Egypt could maintain along the border
with Gaza. He said the changes would allow Egypt to bring larger numbers
of troops to the border area to halt the smuggling.
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- There was no immediate comment from Egypt.
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