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Families of Palestinian Fighters May Be Expelled From Israel
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| “Collective
punishment” includes jailing Ayat’s brothers Samir and
Ismail in Israeli jails without any charges.
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, June 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Israeli
government decided Sunday, June 23, to look into the legal possibility
of expelling families of resistance fighters who carry out operations
in Israel, in a new move aimed at cracking down on attacks, as the
Israeli army reoccupied more West Bank cities.
On
Sunday, the regular weekly meeting of the Israeli cabinet chaired by
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon debated tough measures, including
banishing relatives of the fighters from the West Bank.
“The
government decided to examine the legal possibilities [that would
allow] the expulsion of families of those who commit suicide
attacks,” Israeli government secretary Gideon Saar told reporters
afterward.
Saar
did not say where they would be moved. But Israeli public radio and
Effi Eitam, minister without portfolio from the right-wing National
Religious Party, both suggested a more tightly sealed Gaza Strip.
“We
are today at war and in addition to all the defense measures such as
the construction of a security barrier, we must take offensive action
such as the expulsion of families of terrorists to the Gaza Strip,”
Eitam said.
The
Palestinians, as well as an Israeli human rights group and the father
of a female resistance fighter who died during an attack, slammed
Sunday any move by Israel to expel the fighters’ families.
“The
Palestinian Authority condemns the decisions of the Israel cabinet.
These are very serious decisions and they constitute an interruption
of the peace process,” chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erakat,
told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The
threats to banish Palestinian families or individuals is a crime
against the Fourth Geneva Convention,” which concerns humanitarian
protection in times of war, Erakat said.
The
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) condemned Palestinian
suicide bombings, but said, however, that “family members of
Palestinian terrorists are also innocent civilians.”
“Any
attempt to injure innocent family members would blur the boundaries of
a democratic state,” it said in a statement addressed to Sharon and
also to Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein.
ACRI
warned the expulsions of families of human bombers would be a form of
"collective punishment" which the group also said was banned
under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
"Article
49 of the same Convention prohibits the expulsion of protected persons
from conquered territory, regardless of the motivation for the
expulsion," ACRI president Naama Carmi wrote in the statement.
Meanwhile,
the father of Ayat al-Akhrass, who blew herself up March 30 in a west
Jerusalem supermarket, also warned that such measures would be useless
and would fail to stem the tide of the bombings.
Three
people were killed in the operation which was claimed by Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's
Fatah movement.
“Any
decision, no matter how well it is planned, will not stop bombings
because bombers will never consult anyone when they are ready to carry
out an operation,” Mohammad Lotfi al-Akhrass, 55, told AFP.
Speaking
from his home at the Dheisheh refugee camp near the West Bank town of
Bethlehem, Al-Akhrass said that expulsions would be tantamount to
“collective punishment” for entire families. “There are 20
members in my family alone,” he said.
Al-Akhrass
said he has already been punished by the Israeli authorities after his
daughter blew herself up in March.
“A
month ago, they stormed our house and they arrested my son Samir and
my son Ismail who are still being held in an Israeli jail with out any
charges leveled against them,” he said.
“They
were only arrested because they were Ayat's brothers,” he added.
The
Australian newspaper, Sunday Morning Herald, said that the families
could also have their former homes in the West Bank destroyed.
There
would be little chance of them ever returning without Israeli
permission, said the paper. The Gaza Strip is completely fenced off
and Israel controls all access points.
The
Israeli cabinet on Sunday lso gave the go ahead to complete work on
the first 102 kilometers (more than 60 miles) of a highly criticized
barrier along the West Bank aimed at keeping Palestinians bottled up.
Work
started June 16 on the first part of what would eventually be a
350-kilometer (220-mile) montage of fences, trenches and walls with
electronic devices that has drawn sharp criticism from Palestinians
and the world.
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