WASHINGTON Ñ Israel appears to be withdrawing from a government
proposal to deport the families of Palestinian suicide bombers after criticism by the U.S. State Department.
The Bush administration said Israel must not expel any family member of
a suicide bomber who is not connected to a Palestinian attack against the
Jewish state. Officials said Washington has raised the issue with Israel.
Officials said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has reduced
those eligible for deportation in the wake of international criticism of the
proposal. They said the expulsions would be limited to those Palestinians
linked directly to suicide bombings of family members.
The government set new guidelines that would subject any deportation
request to approval by Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein and Israel's High
Court. Rubinstein has not released a ruling on the proposed policy of
deporting families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
"We're only talking about a few people who will be eligible for
deportation," a senior Israeli official said.
The Sharon government had been exploring the prospect of expelling from
the West Bank the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. The proposals
range from relocating the Palestinian family members to either the Gaza
Strip or Lebanon.
"We expect that Israel's actions in its campaign against terror will be
based on information that's related to an individual's culpability, not to
personal or family relationships," State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher said on Friday. "We think that taking punitive actions against
innocent people will not solve Israel's security problems, and we'll be
raising that issue with the Israeli government."
So far, 21 family members of Palestinian suspects in attacks in two
bloody attacks last week have been detained by Israeli forces. They are all
from the area of the northern West Bank city of Nablus and are male family
members of the Palestinian suspects.
Palestinian groups are threatening to avenge any move to deport
Palestinians. The Hamas movement, which has claimed responsibility for the
majority of suicide bombings, said it will send attackers throughout Israel.
"Our answer to the Zionists will be strong and bloody," Hamas said in a
communique. "We will send explosive messages to the Zionists everywhere we
can get to."
On Sunday, Israeli authorities reported a bombing at a train station in
the southern city of Yavne. One person was reportedly injured.
At the same time, the United States has drafted a plan to reform
Palestinian security agencies. Officials said Egypt and Jordan would help
train and equip the Palestinian security agencies.
