Israeli Troops Bury Family
Alive Under Demolished House
18 May, 2004
Palestine Media CenterOn the eve of the 56th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, when the Jewish state of Israel was forced on the historical land of the Palestinian people, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) buried a husband, his wife and her sister alive in a refugee camp on Friday when they refused to evacuate their home before the occupation troops demolished it together with at least 39 houses in the southern Gaza Strip.
The creation of Israel in 1948 doomed about two thirds of the Palestinians to exile. Ever since, more than five million Palestinian refugees live in the Diaspora, more than 300,000 live displaced inside the Jewish state itself, while more than three million more remain under the Israeli occupation since June 1967, including a large percentage of refugees living in refugee camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The IOF on Wednesday embarked on a military onslaught to demolish Block “O” of the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza Strip. At least 39 houses have been reported demolished so far. The Qatar-based Aljazeera satellite TV station on Saturday put the figure at 100 houses already demolished since Wednesday.
A family consisting of Ashraf Qatshah, 38, his wife and her sister refused to evacuate their house in Block “O.”
IOF demolished the house nonetheless, burying the three alive under the rubble, the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds daily reported on Saturday.
Panic-stricken dwellers grabbed whatever belongings they could carry and fled, some waving white flags at approaching IOF bulldozers and troops, witnesses said.
The European Union and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday called on Israel to halt the demolition of Palestinian houses in Rafah.
Israel must “immediately” stop the destruction of Palestinian homes in the refugee camp of Rafah, the Irish presidency of the European Union said.
“The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland, Brian Cowen, called on the Israeli government to halt its demolition of Palestinian homes in the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip immediately,” it said in a statement.
Cowen recalled in his statement that the Middle East “Quartet” -- the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- had urged Israel at their May 4 meeting in New York “to take steps to respect the dignity of the Palestinian people and improve their quality of life.”
“The Quartet had also emphasized that Israel should refrain from demolition of Palestinian homes and property, as a punitive measure or to facilitate Israeli construction,” he added.
IOF have been systematically leveling the refugee camps of Rafah since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000, making more than 11,000 people homeless, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
IOF razed 1,026 houses in Rafah and damaged 767 more, Palestinian sources said.
Annan on Friday strongly condemned Israel’s widespread destruction of Palestinian homes in Rafah and urged Israel to stop violating international law.
Annan cited reports of the demolition “of scores of buildings over the last two days, in addition to 130 residential buildings already destroyed this month.”
“The secretary-general has repeatedly called on the government of Israel to address its security needs within the boundaries of international law,” UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement.
“He (Annan) urges Israel to uphold its obligations as an occupying power by immediately halting such actions, which are tantamount to collective punishment and a clear violation of international law,” Eckhard said.
UNRWA Refutes Israeli Claims
Earlier, a representative of the UNWRA refuted the IOF’s justifications for this war crime.
“It’s impossible to believe that every one of these houses shelters militants or the entrance to a tunnel,” UNRWA’s official Paul McCann said in response to the Israeli government’s allegation that the demolitions are aimed at preventing the use of cross-border arms-smuggling tunnels.
The IOF claimed they were demolishing “empty buildings” that were used by Palestinian activists to attack their troops.
McCann pointed out that the “empty buildings” were only abandoned because of the constant danger of being killed or wounded and eventually expelled by the IOF.
“When the house on your left has been blown up and the house on your right has been blown up, you know you're next, so families don't always wait until the last moment to find other housing,” he explained.
“Rafah is a humanitarian catastrophe,” concluded McCann.
IOF ‘Widens’ Philadelphi Route
IOF say the demolitions are aimed at widening the so-called “Philadelphi route” buffer zone on the Gaza Strip border with Egypt.
UNRWA chief Peter Hansen had condemned demolition of Palestinian houses as a “collective punishment.”
An official from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office confirmed that bulldozing of Palestinian houses would take place to widen the “buffer zone”, which runs 4.5 miles and is now 250 yards wide in some places.
“This is a legitimate defensive measure, which is aimed at ensuring better protection for our soldiers who shouldn’t remain as sitting ducks and at preventing the smuggling of weapons, mortars, rockets and tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli official claimed.
“The first houses to be destroyed will be empty buildings. Then inhabited houses will be demolished. Israel will be responsible for finding new accommodation for the evacuated people,” Israel’s public radio said on Friday.
IOF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon says that the army is “strongly considering” a mission to widen the Philadelphia corridor along the Israeli-Egyptian border, adding that the route is deemed of vital security interest, controlling the flow of arms and explosives into Gaza. It would have remained in Israeli hands even under Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, AFP reported.
Israeli left-wing lawmaker Yossi Sarid (Meretz) told Israel Radio that the mass demolition of Palestinian buildings along the route would be a war crime and warned against “razing half of the town of Rafah.”
PNA Calls for US Intervention
Meanwhile, Palestinian cabinet Minister for Negotiations Sa’eb Erekat condemned the corridor’s expansion as a “total contradiction” to what Sharon has presented as “disengagement:”
“Destroying these houses will be a major catastrophe for our people,” Erakat said. “This shows Israel intends to stay in the Gaza Strip and not withdraw.”
Erekat called for American intervention to halt the destruction.
“This is a catastrophe. At a time when the Israelis are speaking of disengaging from Gaza this is really re-engaging,” he told The Associated Press. “I hope that (US President George W. President Bush, who says he is encouraged by disengagement, will interfere to stop the demolitions.”
UNRWA reported that at least 1,100 Palestinians were left homeless in the Gaza Strip in the first ten days of May.
According to UNRWA, the latest destruction brings to 17,594 the total number of Palestinians who have lost their homes in Gaza Strip, making it the most intense period of destruction, as the agency put it.
The majority of the demolitions have taken place in Rafah in the south, where 11,215 people have already been made homeless by IOF demolitions since September 2000, UNRWA added.
Separately, the IOF on Friday demolished a Palestinian detainee’s house in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
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