WASHINGTON, (Islamweb & Agencies) -The United States at last joined an international call for an immediate halt to Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes, condemning the practice as "highly provocative" and a blow to a fragile truce."Actions such as these demolitions are highly provocative, they undermine confidence and trust between the parties," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"They can only make it much more difficult to restore calm."
Boucher said US officials had been in touch with the Israeli government at the highest levels to urge an "immediate halt to any further demolition of Palestinian homes and destruction of Palestinian property."
The US condemnation came after Israeli forces early Tuesday bulldozed homes in a refugee camp in Rafah near the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt. (Read photo caption below)
Israeli armoured vehicles and bulldozers pushed 110 yards inside the refugee camp, which is under full Palestinian security and civil control, and tore down 18 houses and six shops, a Palestinian official said.
The Israeli occupation army said it demolished the buildings because they were being used as cover for attacks against military posts.
Outraged Palestinians and Israeli occupation troops engaged in hours of gunbattles following the operation. Six Palestinians and three Israeli occupation soldiers were wounded.
Monday, Israel destroyed 14 homes in an overcrowded refugee camp in east Jerusalem it claimed had been built illegally.
The bulldozings further dented hopes for a week-long "cooling off" period, which Israel insists on before implementing measures under the peace plan recommended by a commission chaired by former US Senator George Mitchell.
As the violence raged, Boucher said the United States was sending a new envoy to the region to push peace efforts.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Satterfield will travel to the region this week, to follow up on discussions held two weeks ago by Secretary of State Colin Powell and other US envoys.
US officials last week denied their mediation efforts had reached a dead end, and insisted it remained engaged in the process, after reports the Bush administration was thinking of taking a step back.
But Boucher said Monday that there was only so much Washington could do, placing the onus for soothing the conflict on the parties themselves.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Palestinians walk through the rubble of homes in Rafah on Tuesday
Israeli bulldozers were also at work Monday at the Shuafat refugee camp near Jerusalem, 14 unfinished houses were flattened.