UN, U.S., Warn Israel on 'Collective Punishment'

20/07/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Exile an Option for Family Members with Proven Link to the Plans for Attacks||22 Relatives Detained so far||Hamas Threatens More Attacks If Deportations Were Carried out||Car Explodes Near Tel Aviv-1 Dead|| STORY: Israel's attorney general has set terms for the possible deportation of relatives of Palestinian Resistance men, a step aimed at deterring bombers which drew UN, U.S. criticism and Palestinian outrage.

Israeli occupation army sources said Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein and military officials agreed Friday that exile -- from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip-- would be an option only for family members with a proven link to the plans for attacks.
The discussion of deportation followed Israel's demolition of the family homes of two Palestinian Resistance men accused of planning attacks which killed 11 people in Israel and near an internationally illegal West Bank Jewish settlement this week.

Israeli forces also arrested 22 relatives of the wanted men as it weighed the option of exile, seeking a new deterrent as Resistance bombings resumed despite the Israeli army's reoccupation of seven Palestinian cities in the West Bank last month.

The Palestinian Resistance group Hamas, which has spearheaded a campaign of Resistance bombings against Israel, threatened to launch more attacks if the deportations were carried out.

U.S., UN, WARN ISRAEL ON 'COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT'

In Washington, the State Department warned Israel against punishing relatives of militants purely based on their family status and not on evidence of wrongdoing.

Spokesman Richard Boucher said "taking punitive actions against innocent people will not solve Israel's security problems and we will be raising that issue with the Israelis."

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat branded the proposed exile, which Israel once used against suspected Resistance menin the first Palestinian uprising of 1987-93, as a "crime against humanity."

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Israel on Friday that destroying Palestinian homes and deporting relatives of bombers amounted to collective punishment of the Palestinian people. While Annan "has repeatedly condemned bombings and upheld Israel's right to defend itself, the secretary-general wishes to make clear that self defense cannot justify measures that amount to collective punishments," spokeswoman Hua Jiang said.

CAR EXPLODES NEAR TEL AVIV-1DEAD

A car exploded near a mosque early Saturday in an Israeli Arab neighborhood of Tel Aviv, killing the driver..

The circumstance of the explosion in Jaffa, a mixed Arab-Jewish area south of downtown Tel Aviv, were unclear.

The blast went off shortly after 3 a.m. when the car was near the Hamadia mosque in the Arab part of Jaffa. The driver was the only one killed.

No further details were immediately available.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli soldiers arrest Jamil Kawasme, an Al Aqsa Brigades member, wanted by Israel in connection with attacks on Israelis, in the West Bank town of Hebron Friday July 19, 2002. (AP Photo/ Nasser Shiyoukh