21/05/2004 By Arnon Regular and Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies Attorney General Menahem Mazuz wants the Israel Defense Forces to formulate an alternative to its Southern Command’s plan to widen the Philadelphi route, Israel’s security strip on the border with Egypt. Mazuz forwarded his demand for a substitute plan Thursday night at a meeting he sponsored with top IDF officers and officials from the Justice Ministry. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has assured the United States Israel would not demolish any more homes or widen a narrow strip of land it had cleared on the border with Egypt, a senior State Department official said. „Olmert did tell us when he came in Tuesday that there would not be further demolition of houses and that they were not going to widen the strip. We’ll see what happens,” said the official, who asked not to be named. The assurance was made by Olmert during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday in Washington. During the meeting, Powell raised concerns over the ongoing IDF offensive in Rafah when Olmert pledged to end the demolitions, the official said. According to a United Nations agency that provides aid for Palestinian refugees, dozens of homes in Rafah have been demolished in the past week, making more than 1,000 homeless. On Thursday, the third day of the raid, nine Palestinians were killed by IDF soldiers as troops moved into two new neighborhoods in Rafah, witnesses and military sources said.
Participating in the meeting with Mazuz were IDF Military Advocate Major General Menahem Finkelstein, IDF Southern Commander Dan Harel, and top figures from the State Prosecutor’s Office. The discussion focused on possible legal repercussions of the IDF’s plan to widen the Philadelphi route; participants considered whether the plan will survive High Court challenges. Mazuz asked the IDF officers to prepare an alternative plan which would involve fewer house demolitions, and which would mitigate suffering to the Palestinian civilian population. Participants agreed that more meetings will be needed to assess possible alternatives; and no specific substitute for the present IDF Operation Rainbow was discussed Thursday night. On Wednesday, the United States took the unusual step of abstaining on a United Nations Security Council resolution criticizing the Israeli operation. The United States typically vetoes such resolutions, complaining they are unbalanced. Washington has long objected to the Israeli practice of destroying Palestinian homes to crack down on terrorism, and on Wednesday the White House sharply criticized the incursion into Rafah.
