Israel Threatens More Demolitions

JERUSALEM —  Shrugging off international criticism and pleas from human rights groups, Israel threatened Sunday to press ahead with the demolition of hundreds of Palestinian homes in the southern Gaza Strip.

The warnings by top Israeli military officials came as Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the army could destroy Palestinian buildings near an Israeli patrol road that runs along the Gaza-Egyptian frontier if military commanders deemed the demolitions necessary for security reasons.

The United Nations agency that oversees Palestinian refugee camps in the region said the destruction of nearly 100 homes along the so-called Philadelphi route in the last two weeks had left more than 1,000 Palestinians homeless.

Heavy fighting inside Gaza left more than 30 Palestinians and 13 Israeli troops dead last week. In addition, the Israeli army said three armed Palestinians were killed late Sunday when they approached the security fence surrounding the seaside territory, apparently trying to slip out.

At a news conference Sunday in Jordan, U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell acknowledged Israel’s right to self-defense but suggested that mass demolitions only created a climate conducive to more violence.

“We oppose the destruction of homes -- we don’t think that is productive,” he said. “The United States is anxious to do everything it can to stop this cycle of strike and counterstrike that resulted in the loss of so many lives within the last week.”

He was also critical of recent statements by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

Palestinian residents of the crowded Rafah refugee camp, which abuts the frontier, have told stories of having to flee with no time to grab their valuables as giant Israeli armored bulldozers tore down their homes during the past week of heavy fighting.

The Gaza-Egypt frontier has long been the scene of intense clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen, with civilians caught in the middle.

Israel stages daily operations to destroy tunnels built for weapons smuggling that run under the border, and its troops come under attack from Palestinian militants.

Some of the worst of the recent clashes occurred in Rafah. On Wednesday, Palestinian militants destroyed an Israeli armored personnel carrier on the Philadelphi route, killing all five soldiers aboard, and two more soldiers died Friday during an operation to recover their comrades’ remains.

Israel insists that demolishing buildings near the route is the only way to deprive Palestinian assailants of cover for launching attacks.

Besides Powell, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has criticized the practice. Also, the London-based Amnesty International is poised to release a scathing report this week detailing humanitarian hardship caused by home demolitions.

On Sunday, Israel’s top military men -- Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon -- reasserted Israel’s right to protect its troops, and defended demolitions as necessary.

Israeli news reports said Yaalon told the weekly Cabinet meeting that hundreds of Palestinian homes near the frontier had been slated for destruction if attacks on Israeli troops continued. Mofaz was quoted as promising a “different reality” in Gaza -- generally interpreted as referring to a stepped-up campaign of home demolitions in Rafah as well as more Israeli strikes against Palestinian militant leaders.

“We will deepen the fighting,” Mofaz told the ministers, according to Israeli media reports.

Over the weekend, Israel attempted to assassinate two leaders in Gaza of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad with missile strikes and staged air raids on the offices of a newspaper affiliated with the militant group Hamas and a branch office of Arafat’s Fatah faction. Another missile strike early today targeted another Fatah office, causing no injuries.

The Israeli high court ruling on demolitions came in response to a petition by Palestinian families attempting to block the destruction of 13 homes. In rejecting the request for a stay, the three-judge panel appeared to give military authorities broad discretion in determining whether a given Palestinian structure posed a risk to troops.

In an editorial in Sunday’s editions, the Haaretz newspaper urged the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to negotiate with the Palestinians to improve security along the frontier rather than engage in what it called a “scorched-earth policy” in Gaza.

On his visit to Jordan, Powell coupled his rebuke of Israel with criticism of Arafat, who called on Palestinians a day earlier to “terrorize” their enemies. “Mr. Arafat continues to take actions and make statements that make it exceptionally difficult to move forward,” Powell told reporters.

Powell also met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Korei, who moved on to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

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Times staff writer Paul Richter, accompanying Powell, contributed to this report from Suweimeh, Jordan.