Israel admits Rafah dead were civilians

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Tuesday May 25, 2004 10:03 by kokomero

Professional liars beware ... the truth bites back!

An Israeli army spokesman said 12 unarmed Palestinian civilians were killed during the course of Operation Rainbow, including seven killed by a tank shell during a demonstration in the Tel Sultan neighborhood last Wednesday.

"We did not use the tank shell in order to disperse the demonstration but rather to create a boom effect," Zakai said. "To the best of my professional judgement, the tank commander's decision was correct."

The running dispute between the army and human rights groups, who have been pressing for an independent inquiry into the deaths of the demonstrators, is complicated by the fact that the army say eight people were killed.

Officials at Rafah's main hospital have said 10 people were killed in a protest outside the Tel Sultan neighbourhood where an army siege was lifted yesterday.

But the new admission contradicts early claims by government sources that as many as five of those killed were armed militants. It came as General Zakai also said the whole operation had claimed the lives of 41 militants and 12 civilians. Palestinian human rights groups, who put the total at more than 60 over the past fortnight, claim that the proportion of civilians is significantly higher.

General Zakai also said that 56 homes had been destroyed or damaged during the operation. The figure was an increase on previous military estimates of damage but still falls short of a figure of 67 over the past eight days estimated by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=431465&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2

The longer a war lasts, the more ways there are to lose it.

The principle is not lost on the officials of the Foreign Ministry and the IDF spokesperson unit, Israel's front-line troops in the media war with the Arabs. From the standpoint of domestic morale as well as that of international diplomacy, the officials have long stressed that the media war is of critical importance to Israel's future.

Of late, some have suggested, it is also the war that Israel cannot win.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1224056,00.html

Bulldozers threaten Gaza 'school of hope'

Chris McGreal in Rafah
Tuesday May 25, 2004
The Guardian

Each day, Darwish Abu Sharakh climbs to the top floor of Rafah's only school for the deaf, unfurls the Palestinian flag on the balcony and waves at the shadowy outline of an Israeli soldier in a gun tower across the wasteland that was once a sea of roofs.

It is a dangerous act of defiance, but one that has taken on added symbolism as the headteacher faces up to the prospect that the El-Amal school's days may be numbered.

"They know me now. I'm sure they won't shoot me," he says on the balcony, even though there is a standing order for Israeli troops to fire at anyone seen on the upper floors of buildings facing the free-fire zone of the "Philadelphi road" security strip along the Egyptian border.

Until last week, the El-Amal school for the deaf had 131 students between four and 16 years old - the only facility of its kind in southern Gaza.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/431683.html

IDF opens inquiry into house demolitions

Because of severe discrepancies about the numbers of houses that were demolished, the army has started an inquiry. The army was saying over the weekend that only five houses were demolished, but that number climbed to 12 by Sunday - and still was far from the number of houses that Palestinians and journalists visiting the scene said were destroyed or damaged beyond use by tanks and armor moving through the neighborhoods.