ONE WEEK IN HELL: A Killing Spree in Gaza by Sharon

Palestinians salvage water tank from Israeli bulldozer that just leveled their homes in Gaza

Radical Minority Likud Party of Israel Kills Palestinians and Hope for Peace With Bulldozers and Tanks to Destroy Homes, Farms, and Olive Groves!

Last week’s reckless incursion into the Rafah Refugee Camp in Gaza laid bare the moral bankruptcy of Sharon’s government. And it revealed complacency on the part of the moderate majority of Israeli citizens that is sad and disturbing.

While most of us in America were focused on the chaos in Iraq, the rest of the world was watching in disgust as Israeli tanks and bulldozers terrorized the impoverished refugees of the sprawling Rafah Refugee Camp.

The incursion, code-named “Operation Rainbow,” was put into operation to locate and destroy weapons-smuggling tunnels that supposedly run between Rafah and the Egyptian border. After a week of random destruction, only two tunnels were discovered while scores of homes were destroyed, leaving almost a thousand people homeless.

Over forty men died in the fighting, while scores of civilians were injured in the crossfire. The incursion dragged on for a week, forcing thousands of refugees to cower in their homes while food and fresh water ran out.

In acts of wanton destruction that had no possible military value, Israeli tanks destroyed ancient olive tree groves, chicken coups, and orchards and even destroyed the only zoo in Gaza, releasing many wild animals to roam the streets until they starved to death or were shot. Paved roads were reduced to unusable rubble under the overwhelming weight of the Centurion tanks — turning an already horrible existence into an even more difficult one.

Israeli commanders always say that they go out of their way to avoid civilian casualties. But how can they make such specious claims while laying waste to the world the refugees are forced to live in? How can they make these claims while intentionally destroying the means of livelihood and simple survival for the refugees?

In one of the most horrific incidents of the past week, Israeli tanks fired on a peaceful demonstration in Rafah, killing eight teenagers and seriously wounding many others. The demonstrators were approaching an army checkpoint with white flags, to appeal to them on behalf of all the families trapped in their homes. A helicopter gunship fired warning shots, as did a tank, but two of the tank’s shells ended up hitting the crowd. The army issued an apology, but that was small consolation for the beleaguered community that was being methodically destroyed by Israeli bulldozers and tanks.

On May 18th, Rawan Abu Zeid, a 13-year-old girl on her way to the store on the dangerous streets, was gunned down by sniper fire. Two days later, Saber Abu Libdah, a 13-year-old boy, opened the front door of his family’s house. He and his brother were going to make a run for fresh water. They had empty Coke bottles in each hand to fill. He was shot three times by an Israeli sniper before he could get out the door. He died at the local hospital. His older brother, also shot, is expected to survive.

Nobody knows for sure how many homes were bulldozed during the weeklong incursion, or how many more were damaged to the point of being uninhabitable. What we do know is that the worst is yet to come — unless the international community, and the United States in particular, lets Sharon know that his plans are unacceptable and unconscionable.

Sharon — Leader of minority Likud Party (Israel’s radical hardliners) that doesn’t want peace with Palestine

Sharon intends to go ahead with his plans to withdraw from Gaza. But before he does, he feels this need to punish and injure Hamas and its supporters in a way that negates the impression that Hamas is successfully driving the Israelis out. There is no military advantage to this strategy, and his commanders know it, yet few will speak out. Since 2000, over 11,000 Palestinians have been displaced by house demolition and almost 3,000 killed.

Sharon believes that the security road that runs between Egypt and Rafah needs to be widened considerably in order to discourage tunnel building. His plan would require the destruction of hundreds of more refugee homes, leaving thousands homeless. The citizens of Rafah, already humiliated and terrorized, would not stand passively by and allow this to happen — which is to say that last week’s chaos and tragedies will pale in comparison to what will transpire.

Opposition is finally becoming vocal and public in Israel — but not nearly enough. Israel’s attorney general has said that the mass demolition plan is illegal under international law.

Justice Minister Yosef Lapid created an uproar when he said the images of refugees digging in the rubble for their possessions reminded him of his parents’ experience in Nazi Germany. “We look like monsters in the eyes of the world,” he said.

He’s right and Israelis are wrong and misdirected to condemn him for daring to use a Nazi analogy. More voices like his need to be heard. Lapid was not saying that IDF soldiers were acting like Nazis. He was simply saying that the general horror and stupidity of the operation reminded him of what he had seen and experienced as a boy in the Budapest ghetto during the war.

At Goals for Americans Foundation, we have always supported Israel’s right to a vigorous self-defense against terrorism. But we also believe that under Sharon, and the fundamentalist extremists who control his Likud Party, the moral stature of Israel is being eroded and corrupted to disastrous ends.

The brutalization of entire refugee communities can never be justified. We implore the Bush Administration to end its fawning approval of Sharon and his policies of intimidation. Our involvement in Iraq is no excuse for putting this problem on the shelf. The Palestinian question has been, and remains, the fundamental problem in the Middle East.