Seems that Israel is losing friends very fast. Looks like people are finally beginning to see it for the pariah racist aparthied state that it is!
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Israeli house demolitions violate laws: US group
By Molly Moore
Jerusalem
October 20, 2004
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Israeli troops have destroyed hundreds of houses and left thousands of Palestinians homeless in the southern Gaza Strip in operations that far exceeded military security requirements during the past four years, the New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch has said.
The organisation alleged that Israel's excessive use of force against innocent Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza had contributed to outrage across the Muslim world towards Israel and its closest ally, the United States.
"The pattern of destruction strongly suggests that Israeli forces demolished homes wholesale, regardless of whether they posed a specific threat, in violation of international law," Human Rights Watch said in its report on Monday, adding that in most of the cases "the destruction was carried out in the absence of military necessity".
Responding to the report, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, David Saranga, said the Government was doing its "utmost to minimise the damage to the civilian populations".
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The Israeli military has destroyed at least 1686 Palestinian houses in the Rafah refugee camp and adjacent city of Rafah, which stretch four kilometres along the Gaza border with Egypt, according to the United Nations. Nearly 17,000 people - about 10 per cent of Rafah's population - have been left homeless during the past four years, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees reports.
The Israeli military says it has destroyed an estimated 100 smuggling tunnels during those operations.
· The Israeli army has cleared an officer accused by comrades of repeatedly shooting a 13-year-old Palestinian girl to make sure she was dead, but upheld his suspension because of his poor relations with subordinates. An army investigation also found no wrongdoing by soldiers who fired at the girl as she approached an observation post near the Rafah refugee camp on October 5.
The investigation backed an earlier army account that soldiers opened fire because they suspected she was planting a bomb. The girl's family said she was on her way to school.
- Washington Post, AP
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/19/1097951695861.html