The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 21, 2004, Image 6

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W0RI
THE BATTALIOI
Israeli demolition crews move on
West Bank synagogue, Gaza mosque
Steve Weizman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — Israeli
troops tore down part of a syna
gogue at a West Bank settlement
outpost Tuesday but made no
attempt to move adjacent trailer
homes, prompting accusations
the government isn’t serious
about meeting U.S. demands to
dismantle dozens of the out
lawed sites.
Demolition on a far greater
scale took place in the Gaza
Strip, where army bulldozers
smashed 25 houses and flattened
a mosque in a Palestinian
refugee camp, leaving 400 peo
ple homeless, local officials said.
The military said it targeted
buildings from which shots
were fired at Israeli forces, but
did not know how many struc
tures were demolished.
Also on Tuesday, Israeli
planes attacked two Hezbollah
guerrilla bases in south Lebanon,
the Israeli military said. There
were no reports of casualties,
Lebanese security officials said.
The evening airstrike fol
lowed a border incident Monday,
in which Hezbollah guerrillas
fired an anti-tank missile at an
Israeli bulldozer clearing explo
sives, killing an Israeli soldier
and seriously wounding another.
At the West Bank outpost of
Tapuah West, about 150 Jewish
activists put up token resistance
against hundreds of soldiers and
riot police, burning tires and
erecting flimsy barricades of
stones on the road leading to the
isolated hilltop.
It was the first move by the
army to clear a structure from a
populated outpost since June,
when soldiers and police got into
a bloody fistfight with settlers as
they tried to dismantle shacks
and tents at Mitzpeh Yitzhar,
another West Bank outpost.
The wooden synagogue and
study center at Tapuah West was
dedicated to the memory and
teachings of American-Israeli
Meir Kahane, whose anti-Arab
Kach movement is on the State
Department list of terror organi
zations and has been outlawed as
racist by the Israeli government.
Kahane was assassinated
by an Egyptian in New York
in 1990.
Supporters of the Kahane
memorial project watched angri
ly as soldiers wrestled a large
metal safe-like object onto the
blade of an armored bulldozer.
They said the strongbox con
tained a Torah scroll, a hand-
scripted copy of the Old
Testament that is a holy object to
Jews. The army could neither
confirm nor deny that a Torah
scroll was inside the box.
A man in a knitted skullcap
who gave his name as “Arieh”
wept as the bulldozer backed
away. “When Jews take a Torah
scroll from a synagogue, the
state of Israel will fall apart,”
he shouted.
Three soldiers were slightly
injured and 14 settlers were
arrested in scuffles at the scene.
Army Radio reported.
Critics of Tuesday’s opera
tion, which was played out
before TV cameramen, photog
raphers and reporters, said it
was a meaningless display.
After similar army raids in the
past, settlers simply rebuilt
demolished structures after
soldiers left.
“You really need a micro
scope to see the differences
before and after,” said Dror
Etkes of Peace Now, an Israeli
group that monitors settlement
expansion. “A few days later,
everything is back in place.”
Israeli Defense Minister
Shaul Mofaz has ordered several
outposts demolished. Under the
U.S.-backed “road map” peace
plan, Israel is required to remove
dozens of outposts, but so far
has taken down only a few.
The Palestinians also have
failed to meet their first obliga
tions, including a clampdown
on militants.
Shortly before sundown
Tuesday, most of the Jewish
activists and the soldiers were
gone, leaving the synagogue a
skeleton with only a few
uprights supporting its green,
gabled roof. A police officer
said demolition would be
completed Wednesday.
In Gaza’s Rafah refugee
camp, the pace was markedly
different.
As the Israeli bulldozers went
to work, frantic residents threw
mattresses and blankets from
second-floor windows as ceil
ings and walls come crashing
down around them. One woman,
standing just feet from a bulldoz
er, waved a white flag in a failed
attempt to slow the demolition
and salvage belongings. A cry
ing girl helped her mother carry
a mattress.
The governor of Rafah.
Majed Agha. said about 400 peo
ple were made homeless
Tuesday. Palestinian human
rights workers said 17 houses
were destroyed and another eight
badly damaged. Agha initially
SOURCES Ax>CQMtiodPT«M;ESn
put the number of demob
buildings at 30.
Israel has demolished ti
dreds of houses in Rz
near the Egyptian horde
more than three yean
fighting, saying the buil
gave cover to gunmen
weapons smugglers.
Also razed Tuesday **
neighborhood mosque,
Taw hid, which had been pr„
In demolished Saturday
dents said. The mosque is ah
70 yards from an Israeli p®f
road. "This is a crime ip
God's law and human lat
well.” said preacher Ibii
Abu Jazar.
The military' said it was
checking the report of
mosque demolition. In the
three years, troops have
ly stayed clear of holy sites.
A
NEWS IN BRIEF
Iraqi Governing Council
could take over powers
from coalition
Iran seen dragging feet
on key assurance of
nuclear intentions
Israeli warplanes attack
southern Lebanon after
guerrillas kill soldier i
BAGHDAD, Iraq — If an influential Shiite
cleric sticks to his demand for early leg
islative elections, then the coalition may
turn sovereignty over to the U.S.-appoint
ed Iraqi Governing Council, coalition and
Iraqi officials said Tuesday.
One top Iraqi official said the cleric
would accept a transfer of power to
the Governing Council as a way out of
the standoff.
Transferring power to the Governing
Council was among options under study if
the United Nations fails to convince Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani that
early elections are not feasible, coalition
officials told The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity.
Publicly, coalition officials have insisted
the best way to choose the transitional
legislature is by 18 regional caucuses.
U.S. officials hope to convince al-Sistani
that a legislature chosen by caucuses
would have greater legitimacy than the
Governing Council.
VIENNA, Austria — Western diplomats
and nuclear experts voiced growing con
cern Tuesday that Iran has reneged on its
promise to fully suspend uranium enrich
ment — a process that can be used to
make nuclear weapons.
Worries over Tehran’s nuclear intentions
coincided with decreased concern among
nuclear watchdogs about Libya's nuclear
ambitions. Tripoli volunteered last month to
give up chemical, biological and nuclear
weapons or weapons programs.
Disarmament teams are in Libya to start
dismantling the country’s weapons of mass
destruction, and diplomats say the North
African country apparently was sincere in
its vow to disarm.
The most recent developments threaten,
therefore, to put Iran at center stage at the
next top-level meeting of the International
Atomic Energy Agency in March.
Tehran announced it had suspended
uranium enrichment late last year as it
sought to blunt international concern and to
defang U.S. attempts to gain U.N. Security
Council involvement.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Israeli warplat
struck Hezbollah guerrilla bases in soil
ern Lebanon late Tuesday, threatening)
re-ignite another Arab-lsraeli front fi
has been mostly calm for years.
Israel said it was retaliating fotl
Hezbollah attack that killed one Israeli*
dier and wounded another a day eart*
and said the attacks were intended
message to Syria, the main power br
in Lebanon.
The United States blamed Hezbo#
guerrillas for the escalation and caution|
Syria against giving support to
Lebanese militant group.
There was no word on casualties
the airstrikes in a valley six miles northi
the Israeli border near the Mediterranet,
coast, Lebanese security officials said |
One target, a Hezbollah training pof
tion, took a direct missile hit and r
sound of exploding ammunition washes'
in the area, the officials said. They ss
they couldn’t determine the extent of da'
age because of the remote location.
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