Galway branch of the Ireland, Palestine Solidarity Campaign protest against the butchery in Rafah

galway | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Sunday May 23, 2004 20:36

by Danny Urnery

Yesterday, the Galway branch protested against the butchery of the Rafah refugees by the IDF.

Yesterday, activists from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign protested in Shop st against the butchery presently being visited upon the Palestinian refugees in Rafah by the IDF.
Besides the murder of the unarmed demonstrators from Israeli Apache helicopter missiles and tank shell fire, numerous reports from human rights organizations paint a picture of arbitrary shootings of residents including children and nightly firing at border homes from Israeli watchtowers. Over last weekend alone, the Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem have stated that the IDF have destroyed 116 homes in Rafah leaving 198 families (1,160) people homeless.
The ethnic and structural cleansing of the Gaza border area with Egypt, "Operation Rainbow" coincided with the release of a new report on the Israeli practise of home demolition by Amnesty International, which concluded that, "the grounds invoked by Israel to justify the destruction are overly broad and based on discriminatory policies and practises," adding "according to Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, 'extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly' is a grave breach and hence, a warcrime".
Let us not forget that it was in the killing fields of Rafah that the internationals, Tom Hurndall, Rachel Corrie and James Miller were murdered by the Israeli army. Against such barbarity, the IPSC protested yesterday. (most of this text/info and last two photo's were culled from the admirable Electronic Intifada website, Shalom, ! Danny.

19 May 2004, with haze from the Israeli helicopter missiles and tank shells in the background, Palestinians flee the scene of the attack, carrying an injured young man.