UN human rights experts call on Israel to stop razing Palestinian homes by United Nations News 9:41am 20th May, 2004   28 May 2004    Gravely concerned at the scale of suffering caused by Israel's systematic demolition of Palestinian homes, water sources and livelihoods in the Rafah refugee camp, two United Nations experts today jointly condemned the practice as illegal and called for international action if it continues.    Miloon Kothari, the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, and Jean Ziegler, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, said Israel's actions amounted to "serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."    The United Nations estimates that during May, 3,451 Palestinians were rendered homeless. Palestinian livelihoods have also been decimated by Israel's razing of land, including olive groves and destruction of waters sources. "All these practices exacerbate the tremendous difficulties already being faced by the Palestinian people, and have a disproportionate effect on women and on children and the elderly," the experts said, stating that the actions were in breach of international human rights law.    The experts also voiced concern over indications that that the Israeli army is considering demolishing another 2,000 homes in Rafah in order to widen the Philadelphia road security zone which runs the length of the international border between Gaza and Egypt.    "The Special Rapporteurs call on the Government of Israel and the Israeli occupying forces to refrain from the further confiscation of Palestinian land and resources to expand the Philadelphia road," they said, noting that depriving the Palestinians of international borders will threaten the economy of any future viable Palestinian State.    While hailing expressions of concern about the situation, the experts urged the international community "to move beyond words to action." They said that if Israel continued to neglect its obligations under international law, the Security Council should consider further steps, including the deployment of an international observer or protection force in the occupied Palestinian territories.    "Such an international force is urgently required to ensure that no further demolition of houses and destruction of livelihood of the Palestinian people take place," the statement said.    21 May 2004    Israelis and Palestinians must move beyond conflict and violence and grasp peace plan.    Delivering what he called a "melancholy briefing, full of death and destruction and human misery" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the top United Nations political officer today called on both sides to move beyond the deadlock that keeps them stalled at the crossroads and embrace the internationally endorsed Road Map peace plan.    "Surely, the people of Israel and Palestine deserve better news, rays of hope," Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told the Security Council in the latest monthly update on the conflict that saw the "now all too familiar phenomenon of growing violence" in which 128 Palestinians and 19 Israelis were killed in the past four weeks.    Noting that Israeli incursions into the Gaza strip had resulted in many deaths and injuries, and the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian homes, Mr. Prendergast said Israel "must abide by its obligations as the occupying power, which included protecting the civilian population and eschewing the disproportionate or indiscriminate use of force."    At the same time, he reiterated calls for the Palestinian leadership to reorganize and act decisively against terror and violence, adding: "It is essential in our view that the Palestinian Authority grasp the nettle of reform without further delay."    In sharp contrast to the tragic situation on the ground is the hope held out by the Road Map plan sponsored by the so-called diplomatic Quartet - the UN, European Union, Russian Federation and United States - that calls for a series of parallel and reciprocal steps leading to two states living side-by-side in peace by 2005.    "It is not new, but it is viable, once the leadership on both sides have the vision and courage to start following it in good faith and with determination, and to continue along it to the very end," Mr. Prendergast.    But he warned that action by the international community or the Quartet was no substitute for steps by the parties. "Experience from other conflicts is that solutions are adopted and implemented only when the parties themselves decide to do so," he added.    He noted that the Palestinian economy continued to languish with unemployment rising by 2 per cent, to 26.3 per cent, and said the proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza should be carried out in a way that makes it an end to the occupation and a new beginning for the peace process.    "If Israel pulled out from the strip while retaining control over the crossing and sealing off Gaza, while at the same time a weakened Palestinian Authority failed to maintain law and order, and the international community refrained from footing the bill for the consequences of such a scenario, nothing less than a humanitarian disaster would hit Gaza, which could then become a hub for terror and chaos," he added. "No doubt, that was a worst-case scenario - but that was one that should be kept in mind while urging the parties to follow the right path."    Tel Aviv. May 17, 2004    "Get out of Gaza, rally urges Sharon", by Ed O'Loughlin. (The Age)    Pressure is mounting for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza following a weekend peace demonstration that brought more than 100,000 people to Tel Aviv's Rabin Square.    As Israeli helicopters were attacking fresh targets in Gaza City, the biggest Israeli peace demonstration in nine years was held under the banner "Get out of Gaza, start talking". The mainly left-wing Israelis who thronged the square held a minute's silence to commemorate 13 troops killed in Gaza last week.    "This is a protest of the majority," Opposition Leader Shimon Peres told the crowd. "Eighty per cent of our people want peace. One per cent are trying to block it."    Saturday's demonstration was organised by left-wing groups this month to protest at the defeat of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral Gaza disengagement plan in a referendum of his right-wing Likud Party.    Rabin Square, where prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli in 1995, was a sea of balloons, banners and placards - a few, unusually, expressing support for Mr Sharon and his plan.    Some analysts believe that the Gaza issue could revive the fortunes of the Israeli left and peace camps, battered by 31/2 years of struggle with the Palestinians.    Tova Meryn Zartz, a Sydney woman who emigrated to Israel in 1967, drove from Jerusalem to attend."I'm here to feel that I'm at least doing something minimal to show that I'm very distressed about the situation, so that the world will know that not only the right wing represents Israel," she said. "Negotiations are necessary to get us out of this stalemate. Not doing anything, just relying on the status quo, seeking physical solutions - it's not getting us anywhere."    The crowd was further swelled because of events last week in Gaza, in which 13 Israeli soldiers and at least 32 Palestinian fighters and civilians were killed.Scores more Palestinians were wounded in clashes sparked by Israeli raids in the strip, and there was massive destruction of Palestinian homes, businesses, vehicles, farmland and infrastructure.    The relatively heavy Israeli losses are doubly sensitive in light of Mr Sharon's new push to withdraw Israeli troops and 7500 Jewish settlers from Gaza. At the weekend, the Israeli army responded to the deaths of its troops with plans to demolish dozens more Palestinian homes in the Rafah refugee camp to widen Israel's clear-fire zone along Gaza's border with Egypt.    The UN refugee agency UNWRA says 88 buildings have been destroyed in recent days, making 1000 people homeless. At least 11,000 people in Rafah have already lost homes and possessions to no-warning night demolitions since the present uprising began.    Visiting Jordan for an economic summit, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that the US opposed Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in the refugee camp and called for an end to the current cycle of violence. "We know that Israel has a right for self-defence but the kind of action they are taking in Rafah with the destruction of Palestinian homes, we oppose," he said.    The decision to accelerate the demolition campaign follows the deaths of five soldiers when a rocket-propelled grenade struck their armoured vehicle on Wednesday. Two more soldiers died on Friday in a follow-up operation to demolish houses. At the weekend Israeli helicopters made an unsuccessful bid to kill a leader of the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza City and also destroyed offices belonging to a Palestinian charity and a newspaper linked to the militant group Hamas. The Israeli army said both offices were used to direct terrorism.    In Jordan, Mr Powell met Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and Jordan's King Abdullah at a meeting of the World Economic Forum. To polite applause, Mr Powell told the meeting that the Bush Administration was prepared to "take risks" for Middle East peace. Mr Qurie called for a ceasefire followed by negotiations.    - with Reuters
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