ISRAELI DESTRUCTION OF PALESTINIAN HOMES IN GAZA

Early day motion 1239, tabled 19 May 2004 by John Austin (Labour). Signed by 109 members.

That this House condemns the Israeli destruction of Palestinian homes and wide scale devastation across the Gaza Strip; expresses grave concern about the extent of the destruction in the Palestinian refugee camp in Rafah, where over 80 homes have been destroyed, leaving more than 1,000 Palestinians homeless; expresses alarm at the overall scale of the Israeli policy of house demolitions; notes that so far in May, 191 homes have been demolished in the Gaza Strip and 2,197 Palestinians made homeless; notes Amnesty International's figure that over 3,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished in the Occupied Territories since the start of the intifada; believes that house demolitions on this scale breach international law and cannot be justified by Israel's claim of urgent military need; expresses concern at the worsening humanitarian situation caused by Israeli military operations using bulldozers and helicopter gunships, resulting in damage to roads, water and electricity supplies, injury to medical teams and obstruction to medical care with local hospitals unable to cope with the number of dead and injured; believes that these military actions will neither calm the situation nor enhance Israel's security; welcomes Her Majesty's Government's expressions of deep concern over the demolitions; calls on the Government to take measures to ensure that Israel's repeated violations of international law do not continue; and calls for the British Government to support the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in light of Israel's continued breach of the treaty's articles on human rights obligations.

Signatures by party: Labour 79, Liberal Democrat 15, Labour/Co-operative 8, Plaid Cymru 4, Conservative 2, Independent 1.