Israeli cabinet split by demolition of Palestinian houses

11.45 am

JERUSALEM - Israel's prime minister Ariel Sharon has blasted several members of his own cabinet for adding their voices to a growing chorus of internal criticism over the Israeli army's most destructive house-razing mission since the start of the intifada.

Mr Sharon began a cabinet meeting by accusing Labour ministers in his coalition government of fuelling anti-Israeli "propaganda" by questioning the operation, which came a day after the killing of four Israeli Bedouin soldiers by Hamas guerrillas.

Outrage over last week's demolition of around 60 homes in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza -- collective punishment against civilians which violates the Geneva Conventions -- has abruptly galvanised Israel's liberal minority, which has been subdued since the conflict with the Palestinians turned violent in September 2000.

The operation went ahead despite appeals from several of the relatives of the dead soldiers, as well as Bedouin community leaders, for the Israeli army to refrain from acts of vengeance.

Mr Sharon, who authorised the assault, yesterday awoke to newspaper headlines in the liberal domestic press which were among the most critical that he has faced since taking office last March.

Gideon Levy, a respected left-wing columnist, declared that the wrecking mission -- which collectively punished hundreds of impoverished Palestinian men, women and children by rendering them homeless in the height of winter -- was a war crime.

In a stinging editorial on the subject, the newspaper described the operation as an act of "blind cruelty", a case of "destruction on a systematic collective and indiscriminate level against Palestinians, whoever they may be. As far as is known the only sin of most of them - perhaps even all of them - was the place where they lived."

Several Labour ministers, including Shimon Peres, yesterday raised questions about the demolitions. It was followed by the sinking of two Palestinian naval boats in a Gaza City port by Israeli navy commandos, and the blowing up of another part the already damaged runway at the closed Palestinian airport in the south of the strip.

"Destruction of homes causes us very bad media damage. In the matter of destroying homes we have to be very, very careful," said Mr Peres.

The row has exposed the tensions between Labour ministers and the predominant right wing within Mr Sharon's government. These are complicated by the fact that Labour's leader, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, is Defence Minister - and authorised the Gaza demolitions.

The furore has also been confused by conflicting claims over the scale of the damage. Mr Sharon last night told a gathering of foreign journalists that it was part of an attempt to crack down on a "major effort by the Palestinian Authority" to smuggle weapons to Rafah in Gaza from Egypt.

Most of the destroyed buildings were empty, he said, and were used by the Palestinians as cover for large tunnels through which the arms were transferred. "My role and the role of the government I lead is to provide security," he said. The army said its forces only destroyed 21 abandoned homes.

But evidence gathered at the scene by correspondents, international human rights workers, and the testimony of the stricken Palestinians themselves wholly contradicted this, showing that the number of homes flattened was around 60. The International Committee of the Red Cross said 93 families, or about 600 people, were left homeless. They are now living in tents supplied by the UN.

The issue has arisen at a time of agonised self-examination in Israel over its handling of "hasbara" - the Hebrew term for the national endeavour to explain its case to the outside world through public relations and propaganda.

This has been brought to a head by the wariness with which the international community, and the foreign press, intially responded to the "Karine-A" guns smuggling affair - the arrest by Israeli commandos of a vessel in the Red Sea which was allegedly carrying 50 tons of weapons to the Palestinians.

There was widespread criticism in Israel over the military's handling of the matter. Israeli security officials claim the operation was personally approved by Yasser Arafat. They have told the United States that it is evidence that Iran - which they say was the source of the arms - is using the Palestinian Authority as a proxy in its war on Israel. Mr Sharon last night emphasised the alleged Palestinian-Iran link, and accused Iran of being the "centre of world terror".

Mr Arafat, still stranded in his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, has denied that he or the Palestinian Authority were involved but has launched a commission of inquiry. His officials are questioning Fuad Shobaki, a senior official, in connection with the ship, and have named two other naval officials whom they wish to interview.

The commando raid on the Karine-A on January 3 was warmly applauded by Israelis, who compared it with the rescue of hostages at Entebbe airport in 1976. However, the army's brief burst of pride and improved stature has now been squandered amid the ruins of Gaza.

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