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The demolition of Palestinian homes is a long-standing method of collective punishment used by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people. Since 1967, some 9000 Palestinian homes have been demolished, leaving over 50,000 Palestinians homeless, many of whom were already refugees from the wars of 1948 and 1967, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. Rafah has been particularly targeted, due to its proximity to the border between Gaza and Egypt, which is marked by a small strip of land known as the Philadelphi Corridor. The operations this past week inside Rafah have left dozens of Palestinians dead, hundreds wounded and thousands homeless. Last weekend, over 150,000 Israelis demonstrated to call on their government to cease the Rafah operations and withdraw from the Gaza Strip. For three years now, the vast majority of home demolitions in Gaza have occurred in Rafah, including the home that Rachel Corrie died trying to protect. These demolitions have been justified only by claims of "smuggling tunnels" from Egypt that come out in Rafah. While these tunnels certainly do exist and do pose a threat to Israelis, the vast majority of homes demolished, over the years and in the recent operations, have had nothing to do with smuggling. Indeed, the Israeli daily, Ha'aretz points out that Palestinian engagement in smuggling operations is largely due to the severe (sometimes as high as 70%) unemployment in the region. The far more efficient way to stop the arms smuggling would be to give the residents of Gaza a better option to make a living and then to target the actual smuggling tunnels, rather than razing an entire town. The IDF today reported that only one tunnel has been found during this operation in Rafah. Israel has demolished well over 100 homes in Rafah in one operation. The real purpose is to widen the corridor between Israel and Egypt, allowing Israeli troops more ease in their patrols there in the event of a Gaza withdrawal and cutting Gaza off completely from Egypt. Coupled with Gaza's total lack of access to Israel, this means that Gaza would be completely isolated in the event of an israeli withdrawal. The heaviest price has been paid by Palestinian civilians, who have lost homes, sometimes for the second or third time. Israel has lost at least 13 soldiers in these operations, and there have been over 80 confirmed Palestinian deaths, with more being reported daily. Here are some early reports of the operation in Gaza this past week: "The Israel Defense Forces launched a mass demolition of buildings Friday in the Rafah refugee camp, adjacent to the Philadelphi Route where five IDF soldiers were killed in a Palestinian attack on an armored personnel carrier two days before. Witnesses said armored bulldozers had demolished 20 houses and were threatening many more in the camp. Panic-stricken residents grabbed whatever belongings they could carry and fled, some waving white flags at approaching Israeli forces, the witnesses said." Ha'aretz, May 14. "Paul McCann, a spokesman for the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, condemned the policy and warned of a deepening crisis. "Carrying white flags and belongings, Palestinians in Rafah fled in the path of armored bulldozers, which knocked down two clusters of five houses each in an initial assault and threatened many more structures, witnesses said. Helicopter gunships fired two missiles into the camp, wounding one person, and sowing panic among refugees. "Eight Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded yesterday afternoon when IDF tanks fired shells at a crowd of protesters in Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Four of those killed were children under 14. Sixty-two people were wounded and about half of them, in a serious condition were taken to hospitals in Khan Yunis. " Ha'aretz, May 20 The living situation for Palestinians in Rafah and throughout Gaza is already horrendous. Please act now to prevent it from getting any worse. |
