Powell Opposes Israel's Razing of Palestinian Homes
Sun May 16, 2004 05:10 AM ET
By Arshad Mohammed
DEAD SEA COAST, Jordan (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday the United States opposed Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in a Gaza refugee camp and called for an end to the current cycle of violence.
Powell also rebuked Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for urging Palestinians to "terrorize the enemy," saying the Palestinian president was making it "exceptionally difficult" to move the peace process forward.
"We know that Israel has a right for self-defense but the kind of action they are taking in Rafah with the destruction of Palestinian homes, we oppose," he told a news conference in Jordan.
"We don't think that that is productive," he said.
Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday lifted its temporary ban on the demolition of homes in Rafah where the army plans to widen a flashpoint corridor it controls along the Egyptian border.
Israeli political sources say dozens or even hundreds of Palestinian homes in Rafah, on the edge of the "Philadelphi" buffer zone, would be razed to widen the corridor and give soldiers more protection from attack by militants.