In Gaza, Israeli Rockets Replace Human Rights

By Stephen Sosebee

Since Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin took power in Israel last summer, the Israel Defense Forces have initiated a new policy of attacking Arab homes in the occupied territories with rockets and grenades. Though the IDF claims it only attacks homes where armed Palestinian fighters are thought to be hiding, the most destructive operations have yielded no armed Arab fighters. They did, however, leave hundreds of men, women and children homeless.

The pattern in which the IDF has attacked the homes suggests that the motivation is wanton destruction rather than actual security. "It is an act of collective punishment against all of us," says advocate Raji Sourani, director of the Gaza Center for Rights and Law. "It seems not designed to apprehend wanted youths as much as it is to teach the population a lesson. Since the whole population supports an end to the occupation and independence, all of us are enemies and thus legitimate targets for military assault."

The vast majority of IDF rocket attacks have taken place in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian resistance is stronger and foreign media access during and after the attacks easily controlled. Since the IDF first employed anti-tank rockets last July, hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children have been rendered homeless. For those living in Red Cross-supplied tents, the winter rains that flood Gaza have done little to douse the anger fueled by such brutal acts, especially among the younger victims.

''I don't yet understand why they can treat us like animals here in Gaza,'' says Subhi An-Najjar in perfect English as we tour his family's damaged home. ''Where is the international law, human rights and democracy that you Americans always talk about? The rubble of my home has more value than your government.''

The first large-scale IDF military operation, in which eight homes of the An Najjar family were destroyed or damaged by rockets and grenades, occurred in a rural area west of Khan Younis in mid-November 1992. It followed an armed clash in which 18-year-old Nihad Muammar was killed, and his subsequent funeral, in which IDF snipers shot dead two unarmed mourners and injured another 17 from 150 meters away.

"I was going to work on a small area of land nearby when the mukhabarat (secret police) came to our area and began questioning us about wanted youths,'' explained Hamad An-Najjar. whose home was damaged externally by rockets and internally by rampaging soldiers, who went from room to room spraying machine gunfire and throwing grenades. "I told them there were no such people here and that they were free to look for themselves, but they put all the women and children into a neighbor's house instead."

The men were taken to another house and handcuffed and blindfolded. Those who protested were beaten. "When I complained that I am an old man and that the handcuffs were too tight, a soldier spat in my face," says Hamad.

Amazingly, he lacks the anger and bitterness seen in the faces and heard in the voices of the young people. He feeds us fresh bread after we tour his damaged home. "You see what type of peace Rabin wants?" he says with a laugh as we leave.

If Israeli intelligence and security forces really believed that wanted persons were hiding in the area, they made no real effort before or during the attack to call for them to surrender. Witnesses claim that they were determined to use their weapons. It was as if they were releasing pent-up frustration. Perhaps chasing children and shooting rock-throwing youths for five years has taken its psychological toll on a once-proud and professional military.

"After we had all been put together, a helicopter appeared over the horizon and began firing machine guns into my house," says a weary Musad An-Najjar, whose single-story dwelling had housed 17 family members, most of them children. "They destroyed in one hour what I worked my whole life to build."

Three months after the attack, Musad's home remains a pile of cement blocks, broken furniture and, where a structure still stands, cracked and dangerously tilting walls. His children climb over rubble where once they lived as a family. The Red Cross supplied a tent, but in a winter of bitter winds and often relentless rain, the family has been divided among the homes of various relatives.

"We had all our savings in our homes," says a weeping Afaf AnNajjar as her three-year-old son Mahmoud digs under a pile of rocks to pull out a twisted toy gun. ''They destroyed our homes and even stole our jewelry."

Two of the eight homes damaged or destroyed last November were 300 meters away from the other six. Apparently the IDF assaulted those homes with rockets and grenades after failing to locate any wanted youths in the other six dwellings.

As we tour one of the two homes with a video camera, the owner, Jawdat An-Najjar, insists on showing us every damaged room, smashed appliance and bullet hole in his two-story home.

"I tried to convince the commander that there was no one but family members here," says the rotund Jawdat as he points out machine-gun and rocket shells on his porch. "He seemed determined to attack us anyway."

Four months after the attack on the eight homes, a military appeals board is still considering whether the IDF is responsible for the damage and whether the claimants are entitled to compensation. The Israeli Civil Administration will not even discuss compensation until there is a decision by the appeals board.

In December there were three similar large-scale military operations against Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip. Two of the attacks included anti-tank rockets, grenades, machine guns and hundreds of battle-ready soldiers. One home belonging to the Al-Janur family in Khan Younis was rendered uninhabitable. Five other homes, four of which were in the Deir el-Balah area of Gaza, suffered serious structural damage as well. The third assault, against the Al-Bana family in Khan Younis, involved approximately 200 soldiers and the use of heavy machine guns and percussion grenades, damaging six homes.

"I housed 20 people in this house just two weeks ago," explains Ahmed AlJanur, the owner. "The commander said he was looking for wanted youths and put us in a neighbor's home, but they didn't find anyone. All they did was destroy my home and steal my wife's gold. Now we have no place to live." Broken furniture protrudes from under large cinder blocks of what was a modest two-story house.

As in the November attack, the IDF employed lethal force without first attempting less severe measures to apprehend wanted persons. "My children are not soldiers. Why must we be attacked like this?" asks Ahmed Al-Janur as his children push to have their photo taken atop the rubble. They may not be soldiers now, but after the violence and injustice to which they have been subjected, Palestinian fighters they will certainly grow to be.

A month after the December attacks, Muhammed Abu Qwatah, 65, was walking to his home in Deir el-Balah when IDF forces shot him once in the shoulder and once in the back of the head with live ammunition. The soldiers were carrying out another rocket and military assault on a home where they thought a "wanted" youth was hiding. The death of the elderly Muhammed was just incidental to the process. Although a curfew was in force, it is likely that Muhammed knew nothing about it. He was deaf.

In the course of four large military operations conducted in January in the Gaza Strip, 44 Palestinian homes were damaged. Eight families totaling 46 persons were rendered totally homeless due to the attacks, while the homes of 36 other families suffered considerable structural damage. Following a rocket attack in the Tuffah area of Gaza City, the IDF reported the operation as being part of a "routine search for fugitives." "It is now routine to attack homes with anti-tank rockets and grenades," says Raji Sourani. "Unless the international community speaks up, these acts will only become more destructive."

Just as the killing of unarmed Palestinian civilians by the IDF over the past five years has become so common that it is hardly newsworthy abroad, so too is the wanton destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip.

The Worst Single Assault

The worst single IDF military assault of the intifada, excluding the massacres of civilians at al-Aqsa and Rafah, began early the morning of Feb. 11. While Khan Younis was under its nightly curfew, 200 IDF soldiers emptied every house in the block, claiming to be looking for "wanted" youths. Men were blindfolded and handcuffed, while the women and children were put in another location. Those who protested were beaten.

Shortly after 8 a.m., soldiers began firing automatic weapons. Over the next several hours, soldiers went from house to house throwing in grenades, launching anti-tank missiles and setting off dynamite. Dogs were used to search the homes and to drop off explosives inside. No armed or wanted youths were found in any of the besieged homes.

Nine homes in the Amal project were hit by anti-tank missiles and had dynamite detonated inside. This was after soldiers had entered the homes and sprayed each room with weapons fire. Clearly, their aim was to destroy property, as the searches had determined that no one—armed or otherwise—was inside. A bulldozer was then brought in to clear away large parts of two heavily damaged homes. In an effort, perhaps, to justify the heavy-handed attack, two youths who had not responded to makhabarat orders to appear for questioning a week earlier were declared "wanted" and arrested on the spot.

By the end of the day, 18 Palestinian families were left homeless, as 10 homes were completely destroyed. Nine other homes were severely damaged by gunfire and explosives, affecting 31 families comprising 186 men, women and children. That was in addition to the hundreds of men, women and children left homeless by 16 previous assaults from July 1992 through January 1993.

Since 1985, when then-Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin reinstated blowing up Palestinian homes as collective punishment, thousands of men, women and children have been left homeless in the occupied territories. They are a new generation of Palestinian refugees. Since last July, additional hundreds of innocent civilians have been made homeless in Gaza by IDF bombs, rockets and military assaults.

"In addition to being a grave breach of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which Israel cares little about, it indicates that the Israeli government is not concerned to distinguish between civilian and legitimate military targets," explains Raji Sourani. "That puts Gaza in the same category as southern Lebanon, where Israeli planes have bombed refugee camps and villages for years. What is most disturbing, however, is not the Israeli behavior as much as the international response. It seems that such behavior is accepted abroad. "

Indeed, international response to the IDF use of lethal military force against civilian dwellings has been confined to pathetically mild protests, at best. While hundreds of Palestinians are now homeless, the IDF has indicated it is prepared to continue the wanton destruction of civilian property in its war against "wanted" youths.

Until those concerned about human rights and international law take a stand, and shame their governments into telling the Israeli government that its blatant violations and gross assaults will not be tolerated, Palestinian children will continue to be made homeless by anti-tank rockets and grenades. Then they are certain to become the next generation of armed and "wanted" youths, fighting to free themselves of an occupation that should have ended a generation ago.

Stephen Sosebee is a free-lance writer from Ohio.