When asked which, in particular, of the IDF’s tactics most offends on a humanitarian level, Brisson suggests that it is their tactic of launching their bulldozing incursions at the dead of night:Most of the time the IDF make their incursions in the middle of the night, and
people are scared to death. There will be many people in the street tonight, taking refuge. We will be going into the area the following day: it is always very sad after a demolition. The people are in despair, trying to get what they can from their destroyed homes – maybe some clothes or a toy for a kid – it really is very very sad.
So where are the people displaced from Rafah going to go?
Most of the people are taking refuge with relatives, although this is extremely difficult as there are already 12,600 homeless people in Rafah alone. In Gaza as a whole, some 18,300 have been affected by the policy of house demolition.
In the first months of 2000, the Israeli Defence Forces were destroying 11 houses per month in Gaza. This rose to 35 per month in 2001, 25 per month in 2002, 65 per month in 2003, and so far in 2004 they have been destroying 104 per month.If anything, this grotesque trend seems set to increase even further:
Israel has announced that they are intending to widen their self-declared ‘security zone’ or ‘Philidelphia Corridor’ along the border with Egypt. The initial demolition cleared a strip 100 metres deep. The intention appears to be to widen this strip.
If it is widened by 100 metres, that will mean the destruction of several hundred houses. If it is widened by 200 metres, that will mean thousands of houses. But some Israeli officials have been quoted as saying that they want a 500m extension to the corridor – and if this happens, the biggest part of the Rafah camp with disappear.
http://www.lnreview.co.uk/links/001839.php
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