Israel destroyed the homes of Palestinian militants and detained their relatives for possible exile yesterday, a new tactic meant to deter suicide bombers but decried by Palestinians as a crime against humanity.
"I see this as a war crime. I see this as a crime against humanity," Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said of the tactic, which Israel used against suspected activists in the first Palestinian uprising of 1987 to 1993.
PHOTO: AP
Reeling from Palestinian attacks this week that killed 11 people in Israel and near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, the Israeli army destroyed the family homes of two wanted men, Nasser al-Din Assidi of Hamas and Ali Ahmad al-Ajouri of Fatah.
Witnesses said 22 people were made homeless in the overnight operation near the West Bank city of Nablus and that soldiers took 22 male relatives of the two militants into custody. Israel Radio said 21 men were detained.
In a sign of popular support in Israel for tougher measures to stop suicide bombings, the country's leading dove, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, came out in favor of using exile as a weapon.
Asked if he supported such a measure, he told Israel Radio: "As far as I know, it has undergone legal scrutiny and if legally possible, yes."
Israeli security sources said Assidi was responsible for Tuesday's bus ambush near the Jewish settlement of Emmanuel in the West Bank in which eight people were killed and for an attack at the same spot in December in which 11 died.
The sources said Ajouri was behind Wednesday's attack in Tel Aviv's foreign worker neighborhood in which two suicide bombers killed three people.
The back-to-back incidents ended a month of relative calm after Israel's reoccupation of seven Palestinian cities, underscoring the army's inability to stop such attacks completely.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the suicide bombings, but militants call them a response to Israeli aggression.
Daniel Taub, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Israel was searching for ways to deny suicide bombers a "supportive environment."
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
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