A crime against the innocent=A0 By Gideon Levy=A0 = Ha

A = crime against=20 the innocent
By Gideon=20 Levy
Ha'aretz
January 13,=20 2002

The punitive action executed by Israel at = the=20 weekend in the Gaza Strip, and in particular the mass = demolition of=20 homes in Rafah on Thursday morning, constitute a war crime. = There is=20 no other way to describe and define the collective = punishment of=20 hundreds of innocent civilians who have been left utterly=20 destitute.

Under the cover of the media = blackout in=20 Israel - it is very difficult to get to the southern Gaza = Strip -=20 bulldozers of the Israel Defense Forces turned "homes into a = wasteland," as M., a Rafah resident, said by phone. If there = was a=20 time when at least part of Israeli public opinion was in an = uproar=20 over the demolition of the home of a terrorist's family, and = there=20 was a public debate over the justice of the act, now Israel = is=20 demolishing the homes of hundreds of residents who don't = even have a=20 family connection to terrorism - and hardly anyone says a = word in=20 protest.

Can we, the Israelis, even begin to = imagine=20 what it feels like to have bulldozers suddenly appear in the = middle=20 of the night and plow under everything a family has, as they = and=20 their children watch? Did the decision makers take into = account the=20 hatred they are sowing in the hearts of the children who = witnessed=20 the destruction of their homes?

And what will = become of=20 these wretched people now, people who even before their = homes were=20 razed were doomed to a sordid life in one of the poorest of = the=20 refugee camps? Where are they going to spend the bitterly = cold=20 nights? And what was their sin? True, Rafah is a bastion of = the=20 Hamas organization, a place where the Palestinian Authority = wields=20 little influence; but does that justify the decision to = launch war=20 against every person in the city?

According to = UNWRA,=20 the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian = Refugees=20 in the Near East, the IDF leveled 54 homes in Rafah, leaving = 510=20 people without a roof over their head; according to the = Palestinian=20 Center for Human Rights, the number left homeless is 700. In = the=20 past year, before Thursday's action, Israel had already = demolished=20 about 200 homes in Rafah. Even if the version put out by the = IDF=20 Spokesman is correct - at first he claimed that "a few = houses" were=20 demolished, and then conceded that "some of the houses were=20 connected," so that a few more homes than originally stated = were=20 razed - this was a cruel and unjustified = operation.

The=20 demolition of the houses in Rafah, the most extensive action = of its=20 kind so far, came in reaction to the killing of four Israeli = soldiers in the Africa outpost near Kerem Shalom and the = capture of=20 the Karine A weapons ship - but there is absolutely no = connection=20 between the victims of the destruction and those two=20 operations.

Even if we believe the IDF's = contention=20 that the Palestinians used the houses as cover for opening = fire on=20 the IDF, and that their courtyards may even have been used = to dig=20 tunnels into Egypt through which weapons were smuggled, that = is no=20 justification for their demolition.

Destroying = the=20 homes of civilians is precisely the type of action that an=20 enlightened state does not do, under any circumstances. A = country=20 that opposes terrorism against civilians cannot demolish = homes of=20 innocent civilians and then claim that what it did is not an = act of=20 terrorism.

The impression is that the Rafah = action was=20 another brutal manifestation of the Israeli need to "react"=20 immediately, to inflict punishment - really, to exact = revenge - even=20 if the reaction is neither morally justified nor politically = wise.=20 In this context, the participation in the operation, = according to=20 reports, of the Bedouin unit that lost four of its members = in the=20 attack on Africa outpost last week, was particularly=20 tasteless.

Israel is now treating the Gaza = Strip as its=20 own territory - destroying the airport (and letting it be = rebuilt),=20 impounding dozens of fishing boats that serve as a rare = source of=20 livelihood in the area, and demolishing homes wholesale. = Those who=20 bear responsibility for these acts are not only the = "extremist"=20 cabinet ministers, but also the "moderate" ministers of the = Labor=20 Party, notably, of course, Defense Minister Benjamin = Ben-Eliezer and=20 Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. They too will one day have to = pay for=20 being part of this government and for the part they played = in=20 operations such as the one in Rafah.

Israel = will have=20 to explain the difference between the violence it is = perpetrating=20 and the violence perpetrated by the other side - and, = horrifically,=20 it is hard to believe that the Palestinians will succeed in=20 preventing mass terrorist acts in this state of affairs. The = next=20 suicide bomber may well emerge from the ruins of the homes = in=20 Rafah.

The officers and soldiers who take part = in=20 contemptible operations of this kind will no longer be able = to wash=20 their hands of guilt and claim they are only following = orders. What=20 do they tell their families on the day on which they = demolished=20 dozens of tin huts, and what will they tell their children = in the=20 future?

In a meeting sponsored by the Gush = Shalom=20 organization - which calls on soldiers to refuse to serve in = the=20 occupied territories - last week in Tel Aviv, Colonel (res.) = Yigal=20 Shochat, a former combat pilot, called on Air Force pilots = to refuse=20 to obey orders to bomb civilians and liquidate wanted = individuals,=20 as such actions constitute war crimes. As far as is known, = not one=20 pilot has refused to obey an order to demolish the homes of=20 civilians, an action that can be defined as flagrantly=20 illegal.

"These are disgusting days," the = novelist=20 David Grossman wrote on this page a week ago, referring to = the=20 hoopla surrounding the capture of the weapons ship. The = IDF's=20 punitive action in reaction to that affair only lends = credence to=20 his despairing=20 = description.