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AL QUDS, June 23: The Israeli cabinet decided on Sunday to look at the legalities of expelling relatives of Palestinian suicide bombers in a new step to crack down on the attacks, government secretary Gideon Saar announced.
The government debated the move at its regular weekly cabinet meeting after back-to-back days of suicide bombings last week that left 26 Israelis dead.
“The government decided to examine the legal possibilities (that would allow) the expulsion of families of those who commit suicide attacks,” Saar told reporters after the meeting.
Effi Eitam, minister without portfolio from the right-wing National Religious Party, urged stiff action.
“We are today at war and in addition to all the defence measures such as the construction of a security barrier, we must take offensive action such as the expulsion of families of terrorists to the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The Israeli cabinet also gave the go ahead to complete work on the first 102 kms of a controversial security barrier along the West Bank aimed at keeping would-be suicide bombers bottled up.
Work started June 16 on the barrier, the first part of what would eventually be a 350 kms montage of fences, trenches and walls with electronic devices that has drawn sharp criticism from Palestinians.
Right-wing Israelis also fear the barrier will isolate Jewish settlers and set in place the de facto border of a future Palestinian state. Regional Cooperation Minister Roni Milo has also said the money could better be used elsewhere.
The cabinet decision to proceed with the first leg approved on Sunday by a vote of 25-1 with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres the sole dissenter.
CITY RETAKEN: Israeli armour rumbled into another Palestinian city on Sunday and the army said it was calling up a brigade of reservists as part of what it described as a “war against terrorism”.
Palestinian witnesses said about 60 Israeli vehicles, including tanks and armoured personnel carriers, pushed into Qalqilya in the West Bank before sunrise and took over several buildings. No resistance was reported.
The return to Qalqilya, several days after Israeli forces ended an operation in the city, followed a threat by Amos Yaron, director-general of Israel’s defence ministry, to launch a “crushing offensive” until Palestinian suicide bombings stopped.
The violence, and debate within the US administration over what Palestinians should be required to do to win the statehood they seek in the West Bank and Gaza, has led President George W. Bush to put off a speech charting road map for peace. The army tightened its grip on several West Bank cities on Saturday, in an offensive which Palestinian officials have said is aimed at toppling the Palestinian Authority.
“The reservists will undergo training and will then join IDF regular forces in the war against Palestinian terrorism.”
