Going Too Far

Israeli authorities held an international press party this week, inviting foreign journalists to watch as the army blew up a house in the Gaza Strip that was home to 13 Arabs. This carefully staged event had two openly announced purposes. One was to punish the family of a 19-year-old Palestinian who is awaiting trial on charges of throwing gasoline bombs at Israeli troops. The second was to try to frighten other Arabs into abandoning their support for the uprising against the Israeli occupation that is now in its 18th month.

Collective punishment of this kind has become a regular occurrence in the occupied territories. Over the years the Israeli army has demolished or sealed hundreds of Arab homes in retaliation for real or, just as often, suspected acts of criminality or political defiance, almost always before any accused person has been tried or convicted. Such actions, protested repeatedly by the U.S. and other governments, violate the most elementary standards of Western justice by ignoring due process and holding an entire group responsible for the alleged crimes of one of its members.