- Amnesty International condemns in the strongest terms
the large-scale destruction by the Israeli army of Palestinian homes in
a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, which made homeless
hundreds of people, including many children and elderly people.
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- "The repeated practice by the Israeli army of deliberate
and wanton destruction of homes and civilian property is a grave violation
of international human rights and humanitarian law, notably of Articles
33 and 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and constitutes a war crime,"
said Amnesty International.
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- This last wave of destruction between 10 and 12 October
is part of a policy which the Israeli army has been carrying out in the
Occupied Territories for decades and increasingly so in recent years. In
the past three years the Israeli army has destroyed some 4,000 Palestinian
homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as vast areas of cultivated
land, hundreds of factories and other commercial properties, roads and
public buildings.
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- The Israeli authorities have frequently contended that
the destruction of Palestinian homes and other properties was necessary
for the success of their military/security operations, and that therefore
it was permitted by international humanitarian law. However, investigations
by Amnesty International and other organizations, including Israeli NGOs,
have shown a recurring pattern of destruction of homes and property as
a collective punishment, to punish local residents for attacks by Palestinian
armed groups.
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- On this occasion Israeli officials justified the destruction
of more than 100 Palestinian homes as due to the presence in the area of
three tunnels reportedly used by Palestinian armed groups to smuggle weapons
from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. No weapons were reported to have been found.
Israeli officials have not explained why the threat posed by the tunnels
could not have been tackled by proportionate means that did not recklessly
endanger the lives of civilians and did not render hundreds of Palestinians
homeless. The army also claimed that armed Palestinians used the now-destroyed
homes to fire on Israeli soldiers. However, they have not claimed that
the inhabitants of these homes were themselves involved in any shooting
or armed resistance.
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- The Israeli army says it has uncovered 70 smuggling tunnels
in Rafah in the past three years and in the same period it has destroyed
more than 1,000 homes in the area.
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- "In most cases examined by Amnesty International,
the extensive destruction of Palestinian homes and properties repeatedly
carried out by the Israeli army was not justifiable on grounds of absolute
military necessity," said Amnesty International. "Such wanton
destruction is unlawful and constitutes a war crime."
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- Amnesty International calls on the Israeli authorities
to put an immediate end to the practice of destroying Palestinian homes
and other properties, and of using excessive, disproportionate and reckless
force against unarmed Palestinians and in densely populated residential
areas, which frequently result in the killing and injuring of unarmed civilians,
including children.
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- The organization has repeatedly condemned the deliberate
killings of Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed groups as a crime against
humanity and reiterates its calls on these groups to immediately halt such
practices.
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- Background:
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- Much of the destruction of homes and agricultural land
in recent years has been in the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated
areas in the world, where more than two thirds of the population now live
under the poverty line (of US $ 2 per day).
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- According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA), the body which cares for Palestinian refugees, 76 homes were completely
destroyed, 44 were partially destroyed and 117 damaged, and the number
of refugees left homeless by this latest wave of home demolitions may be
over 1,000.
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- On this occasion, as in many previous operations by the
Israeli army involving the destruction of homes, at least six Palestinians,
including two children were killed and scores of others, many of them children,
were injured during the period of 10 to 12 October.
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- Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection
of Civilian Persons in Time of War clearly states that "collective
penalties are prohibited... Reprisal against protected persons and their
properties are prohibited." Article 53 of the same Convention states
that "any destruction by the Occupying Power... is prohibited, except
where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations."
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- Amnesty International condemns the deliberate killings
of Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed groups as a crime against humanity.
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- For further information, please contact: John Tackaberry,
Media Relations (613) 744-7667 #236
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- http://www.amnesty.ca/library/news/mde1509103.htm
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