Muhammad Juma was still trying to make sense of what had just happened. Incensed as he was, he sat sipping a cup of mint tea next to a caged, limping coyote and a bouncy kangaroo. Spread out in the field in front of him was an array of rotting carcasses, with the imposing stench that only death imparts. Two gazelles lay facing each other, the look of fear frozen on their faces. Besides the carcasses, the only indication that a zoo once occupied this empty field was a rusty welcome sign that had fallen to the ground. Everything else had been brutally ploughed over with military tanks and bulldozers. Read more about Rafah counts cost of Israeli onslaught
Rights group Mossawa accuses Israeli authorities of turning a blind eye to racial incitement by politicians against Palestinian citizens of Israel. The 120- page report the Haifa-based Mossawa Center released Tuesday, combined overall observations with specific examples that occurred in the past four years. Mossawa said thousands of them “suffer from xenophobia, incitement, racial discrimination, racial violence, and hate speech.” The report is modeled on the recent report on anti-Semitism released by European organizations. Read more about Report: Israel fails to stop racism, xenophobia, incitement and violence
On Thursday, 27 May 2004, Adalah, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights � Gaza and Al-Haq filed a petition and a motion for injunction to the Supreme Court of Israel against Israeli army officers, the Chief of Staff, the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister. The petitioners ask the Supreme Court to define, for the first time, the scope of the legal term �military necessity� in accordance with international humanitarian law. Many home demolition cases have already been brought against the Israeli army before the Supreme Court. In the vast majority of these cases, the Supreme Court has dismissed the legal challenges brought against home demolitions, effectively accepting the army�s arguments, and legitimizing the demolitions. Read more about Palestinian human rights groups ask Supreme Court to define scope of "military necessity"
Last night, Israeli occupying forces (IOF) demolished 25 houses in Rafah refugee camp, leaving more than 350 homeless and injuring two Palestinians. Israeli military vehicles, backed by attack helicopters, moved 300 meters into Block J in Rafah refugee camp. Under cover of intense shelling, Israeli forces began to demolish a number of Palestinian homes, without allowing residents to retrieve their properties. By 5.00am on Sunday, Israeli forces had demolished 23 homes completely and two partially. As a result 352 Palestinians, or 60 families, have been rendered homeless. A 60 year old woman and a doctor were injured during this Israeli assault. Read more about Israeli forces demolish 25 homes in Rafah
The Special Rapporteurs on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, and on the right to food, Jean Ziegler today appealed to the Government of Israel to respect UN Security Council resolution 1544 and bring a permanent halt to the massive military operation by Israeli occupying forces, including the systematic demolition of Palestinian homes, the destruction of water sources and livelihoods in the Rafah refugee camp of the Gaza Strip. The United Nations estimates that between 18 May and 24 May 2004, 167 buildings in Rafah were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, leaving 2,066 Palestinian homeless in just one week. Read more about UN rights experts appeal to Israel on house demolitions
This week, Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians, including 5 children. One of the victims was killed in another extrajudicial execution in Qalqilya. In Rafah, Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians, including 2 children. Israel demolished 255 homes, leaving hundreds of Palestinians homeless. Israel razed at least 700 donums of land. Israeli forces invaded a number of areas in the occupied Palestinian territories. Israeli forces raided homes and arrested Palestinians. Israel continued the construction of the Separation Barrier as more Palestinian land was confiscated and razed. Israel continue to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories. Read more about Weekly report on human rights violations
Several Palestinians were injured, some seriously, when Israeli troops opened fire on a Palestinian funeral in Rafah today. 23 year-old Ziad Alwan was shot in the eye, and is now in hospital in a serious condition. Several other mourners also required medical attention. An estimated 50,000 Palestinians had attended the funeral for 17 citizens of Rafah killed in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood during the Israeli invasion of the area. Some of those being buried had been killed at the beginning of the invasion a week ago and preserved in fridges used for storing vegetables because the hospital and morgue had no room for the bodies. Read more about Israeli troops fire on funeral as Rafah tries to bury its dead
Amnesty International is calling on the Israeli authorities to ensure that a thorough, independent and impartial investigation is promptly carried out into the killing of two Palestinian children by members of the Israeli army in recent days in the Gaza Strip. Sixteen-year-old Asma al-Mughayr and her 13-year-old brother Ahmad were shot dead within minutes of each other on the roof-terrace of their home in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on the morning of 18 May 2004. Each was killed by a single bullet in the head, Asma while taking clothes off the drying line and her brother Ahmad while feeding the pigeons. Read more about Amnesty: "Killing of children must be investigated"
On Sunday 23 May, at about 10am, Israeli tanks stormed the Brazil neighborhood. They took control of the main streets and opened fire on the area before they proceeded to demolish Palestinian homes. Israeli officials confirmed that the military operation in Rafah would go on for several days. Israeli forces continue to block the streets leading to Tel Al Sultan and the main road between Rafah and Khan Yunis. They pulled out of some areas. Israeli forces killed at least 44 Palestinians since the beginning of “Operation Rainbow” on May 18. Israeli forces killed another 15 Palestinians during an invasion on May 14 and May 15, after an Israeli APC exploded in Rafah. This brings the death toll in Rafah to 59 over the past ten days. Read more about Rafah Daily Update, 9.00pm
The Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders, the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, and the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, echo the concerns expressed by the Security Council of the United Nations in its resolution 1544 and by the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights about violence and loss of life during the peaceful demonstration in the Rafah refugee camp of the Gaza Strip on 19 May 2004. The experts said they received credible information that demonstrators were engaged in peaceful activities in exercise their right to protest. Read more about UN human rights experts echo concerns about events in Rafah and Gaza Strip
