Israeli minister sees Gaza attack to Nazi action
Agencies, Jerusalem
An Israeli cabinet minister yesterday said the army's demolition of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip reminded him of actions the Nazis took against his family during World War II and called for a halt to the policy of destroying homes.The remarks by Justice Minister Yosef Lapid, a Holocaust survivor, sparked an uproar at the weekly Cabinet meeting, officials at the meeting said. The ministers were discussing Israel's demolition of homes in the Rafah refugee camp. Dozens of homes have been destroyed or damaged during an ongoing offensive along the Gaza-Egypt border. Lapid was quoted by officials at the meeting as saying a picture of an old Palestinian woman on the rubble of her home reminded him "of my grandmother in the Holocaust." The statement outraged hard-line Likud Party ministers, who demanded he recant. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said such comments add "oil to the fire of incitement." Lapid said he was not comparing Israel to the Nazis but there "is no forgiveness for people who treat an old woman in this way." Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, in an interview published yesterday, apologised for his troops opening deadly fire on Palestinian demonstrators in the southern Gaza Strip, but said Israel was determined to continue operations to halt arms smuggling. "It was unintentional. We are sorry," Mofaz told Newsweek magazine when asked to comment on the killing of at least 10 Palestinians, most of them children, when Israeli forces opened fire on a demonstration in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. The shooting prompted the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution Wednesday condemning the killing of Palestinian civilians and stressing Israel's "obligation not to undertake demolition of homes" contrary to international humanitarian law. But Mofaz said Israel was not destroying houses without a reason. "The houses that we have destroyed had tunnels dug (under them)," he stressed. He said Palestinian groups were using these tunnels to smuggle in ammunition and anti-tank weapons. "We must stop it," the defence minister continued. "Part of the munitions smuggled in were RPG rockets that hit our tanks, and we lost 11 soldiers." A total of 43 Palestinians have been killed since the start on Tuesday of Operation Rainbow, an offensive aimed at arresting militants and halting weapons smuggling. (AP, AFP)
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