Baker, another apologist quote as always:
"Oh so you wouldn’t think there where weapons being hidden in the homes or bomb factories
And How dare the Israelis try to counter women and children being blown up on a bus or market."
By Amira Hass - Haaretz June 8, 2003
BEIT HANUN, Gaza - Ahmed Za'anin's house now looks like some 1,200 other Palestinian homes: a pile of rubble. On May 18, at about 7 P.M., IDF bulldozers knocked down four houses, one partially, which belonged to the extended Za'anin family, in Ezbat Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip.
Usually, the IDF Spokesman's Office reports why a house was demolished: It was the family
of an arrested terrorist, a wanted terrorist, a dead terrorist, the house was used to shoot at soldiers, the neighborhood sheltered armed
men or tunnels, the house was built without a permit.
But this time, the IDF Spokesman's Office had no
records of the demolition of the four houses, so
it did not have any explanation for why the
Za'anin homes were destroyed. "We don't demolish
houses for no reason. Maybe there was shooting
there, maybe there was involvement in terrorist
activities," Haaretz was told. But the fact
remains: The same force that sent a bulldozer or
two and, as the homeowners watched, demolished
their homes, did not find it necessary to report
the action to the IDF Spokesman's Office.
To the same extent, there was no record of the
Za'anin family having heard a nearby explosion,
in a street controlled by tanks and armored
personnel carriers, at around 6 P.M. that day.
About 20 minutes later the family, which was
sitting in the living room, heard the noise of
the churning bulldozers.
"Suddenly we saw Jews in the house," said Amana
Za'anin. An officer and soldiers entered through
a breach they opened in the wall of the house.
They aimed their weapons at the family, and
ordered them out. According to the family, they
were not allowed to take anything with them. Not
even the mother's head covering. The student
daughter cried she didn't want to leave without
her books and notebooks. Her parents said that
they had to drag her away from "under the
bulldozer."
Yesterday, the IDF Spokesman's Office said "On May 18, there was an explosion caused by a jeep
hitting a land mine. Anti-tank rockets were fired
at the forces and then the unit shaved away the
remains of a building that was already
demolished, and was uninhabited." The seemingly
updated information was far from the truth that
was evident to the naked eye on the scene.
Is one supposed to deduce that the decision to
demolish the building was made on the spot, and
by the force, as an immediate reaction to the
explosion and the anti-tank fire, and the IDF
Spokesman's Office knew nothing of that? Israeli
society, including the High Court of Justice,
accepts the demolition of Palestinian homes as
just, and therefore self-evident. It's a short
step from there to the fact that three-and-a-half
houses were destroyed by the army without the IDF
Spokesman's Office, the first address for such
information, knowing anything about it. Is that
why the demolition unit was confident of its
actions and of not reporting them?
Ezbat Beit Hanun is the western neighborhood of
Beit Hanun, where the IDF has been operating
since May 15, to prevent the firing of Qassam
rockets at Sderot. In the first days of the
operation, 10 rockets were fired from the Beit
Hanun area, six in the direction of Sderot. In
the last 10 days, the rocket fire has ceased.
The Za'anin houses were built beside the main road
in Gaza - Salah a -Din - which passes between the
neighborhood and the city center. One of the
buildings was still under construction. According
to the Za'anin family, during the demolition, a
goat shed was destroyed; some of the goats were
crushed under the heavy machinery. Storehouses
were demolished as well as some farm equipment,
including a tractor. A well-preserved 1960
Mercedes was destroyed, as were beehives that
were dragged and crushed, now scattered among the
rubble. More than 50 people lived in the four
houses, and now they are crowded in with
relatives and neighbors. They cannot cross the
street - not even the oldest among them - to
reach the city. The tanks prevent that passage.
Five Palestinians were killed by IDF fire on the
first day of the Beit Hanun operation. Two armed
men were killed when they tried shooting at the
tanks. They were killed outside the city. Two
youths, aged 15 and 16, who threw rocks, were
killed inside the city. And 14-year-old Mohammed
Za'anin was killed. He and his family didn't know
that an IDF force had taken up a position in the
next-door house. At the end of the first day of
the IDF takeover, the Za'anin family went up to a
little bridge that connects two parts of their
compound, to see what was going on around them.
Mohammed, the son, was killed - shot in the head.
On May 18, another boy, also 14, from the Jabalya
refugee camp was killed. He apparently was one of
those who threw stones at the tanks that besieged
the city.
Children climb the ramparts beside the tanks. Some
fly kites, others try a kind of Russian slingshot
roulette: When will the tank fire back at their
rock-throwing? Thus, in the first days of the
operation, between 10-20 children were wounded
every day, for throwing rocks at tanks and APCs.
On June 3, a Palestinian policeman was killed 400
meters west of Salah a-Din Street. A bullet hit
him in the head as he stood at his post. His job
was to prevent armed Palestinians from
approaching Israeli positions.
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Worth repeating:
Usually, the IDF Spokesman's Office reports why a house was demolished: It was the family of an arrested terrorist, a wanted terrorist, a dead terrorist, the house was used to shoot at soldiers, the neighborhood sheltered armed men or tunnels, the house was built without a permit.
yeah right.
Denise: Here is a link to the full article
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2003/06/51391.php
