Israeli’s Remarks on Gaza Are Criticized

Israel’s justice minister sparked controversy Sunday when he criticized the military’s demolition of Palestinian homes in the southern Gaza Strip in remarks that some leaders interpreted as drawing parallels with the actions of the Nazis.

Tommy Lapid, leader of the centrist Shinui Party that makes up a crucial segment of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s ruling coalition, said during the weekly Cabinet meeting that a televised image of an elderly Palestinian woman searching for her medicine amid the rubble of her house reminded him of his grandmother during the Holocaust, according to Israeli media reports.

The comment reportedly drew angry reactions from Sharon and other ministers. Lapid said he was expressing sympathy for an elderly woman, not comparing Israel’s actions with those of the Nazis.

Lapid warned that Israel risked more worldwide condemnation if it did not stop demolishing Palestinian homes around the Rafah refugee camp along the border with Egypt.

“We must be humane and Jewish and not just security- effective,” he said later in an interview on Israel Radio.

Defense officials said the offensive, called Operation Rainbow, would end soon. The operation continued in its sixth day Sunday around the Rafah refugee camp, although army officials said the action was scaled back to give Israeli soldiers a rest.

Several tanks moved back into the Brazil neighborhood amid reports of gunfire. But the exchanges appeared to be less intense than last week.

The clashes have claimed the lives of more than 40 Palestinians, including eight protesters killed by Israeli tank fire as they marched toward the Tel Sultan neighborhood, which had been sealed off by the Israelis amid some of the heaviest combat. Soldiers pulled back from Tel Sultan early today, lifting the nearly week-old siege, Israel Radio reported.

There have been no Israeli casualties, despite heavy fighting with Palestinian gunmen.

Israel has said the offensive, which began with deadly missile strikes early Tuesday, is aimed at finding militants and tunnels through which Palestinian groups smuggle arms and explosives from Egypt.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Sunday that the offensive would probably last for a few more days, but cautioned that it would continue as long as needed.

Army officials said Israel had so far found an explosives-laden tunnel and another opening that may have been a passage under construction. They said Israeli forces had arrested or killed dozens of gunmen.

Critics questioned the operation, especially in light of the international criticism that the offensive and the house demolitions have drawn.

Palestinian officials alleged that Israeli troops had bulldozed dozens of homes. Army officials insisted that soldiers had razed just a handful of houses where gunmen had taken shelter. But last week, journalists who visited one of the neighborhoods from which Israeli forces had recently withdrawn counted the ruins of at least 20 houses.

Lapid said an army proposal to widen a patrol road along the Egyptian border could mean razing as many as 2,000 to 3,000 Palestinian homes -- a move, he said, that would invite wider global outcry.

“This very thought is hallucinatory because it’s clear that after the first 100 houses are demolished, the world will stop us,” he said. Justice Ministry officials are reportedly studying a proposal to compensate the owners of any demolished homes. Shinui has threatened to leave the government unless Sharon makes progress toward a peace settlement with the Palestinians.

After the deaths of the protesters Wednesday -- an incident for which Israel apologized, saying troops did not intend to hit the marchers -- the United Nations Security Council condemned the loss of life and the demolition of Palestinian homes.

The United States, a staunch ally that usually vetoes U.N. resolutions critical of Israel, took the unusual step of abstaining from the 14-0 vote.

In other developments Sunday, three men said to be senior members of Hamas died when a vehicle they were riding in exploded in the West Bank city of Nablus. The blast was believed to have been caused by explosives they were transporting.