http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2355.shtml<snip>
"Israeli occupying forces conducted 3 incursions into various areas in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, in an ongoing Israeli military operation against Palestinian civilians and property, which began at noon on Friday, 16 January 2004. Under cover of indiscriminate shelling, Israeli forces destroyed a mosque and 9 Palestinian houses and razed 9 donums<1> of agricultural land. As a result, approximately 75 Palestinians, mostly children and women were made homeless, adding to the thousands who have been left homeless by similar Israeli military operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs).
In similar operations since the beginning of al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, Israeli occupying forces have demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes in Rafah. These operations have been continually justified by Israeli authorities on the grounds of ‘security’ necessity.
However, the lack of evidence to support such ‘security’ claims, the excessive destruction inflicted, and the location in which most demolitions take place, indicates that there are other strategic reasons behind these operations. The house-demolition operations in Rafah are part of a strategic Israeli policy to clear a large section of Palestinian land along the border with Egypt, in order to create a wider buffer zone and consolidate Israeli military control in the area. In this context, Israeli occupying forces have continued to construct a concrete and metal wall parallel to the border with Egypt, on land confiscated by Israeli forces following similar house demolition operations. There is also some indication that Israeli forces are constructing a road on Palestinian land behind the wall in order to facilitate easy access from Israel to illegal Israeli settlements in the Gush Katif settlement block."
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