OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 22 July — A Palestinian group threatened yesterday to attack the families of Israeli officials if Israel expels relatives of militants to the Gaza Strip, while an Israeli passenger train narrowly escaped yet another bomb attack. "We warn the Israeli government against deporting martyrs’ families, and if they do so the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades will retaliate by striking the families of Israeli officials," said Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, in a statement.
The threat came as Israel promised to give the kin of Palestinian militants who have killed Israelis 12 hours notice of their impending expulsion from the West Bank, giving them time to lodge an appeal. The pledge came after the 21 relatives arrested by the Israeli Army on Friday in the wake of anti-Israeli attacks appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court.
Israel’s plan to expel the families, a new tactic in its ongoing bid to deter further attacks, has run into international condemnation, with its key ally Washington saying the transfers would not guarantee Israel’s security. The Palestinian Authority has said the move would amount to a "war crime." Resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have threatened a bloody response if Israel goes ahead with the move, but the Al-Aqsa statement was the first specific warning to the families of officials.
Also yesterday, the Supreme Court delayed until tomorrow the demolition of two more houses belonging to men accused of attacking Israel, to give the attorney’s office time to justify the destruction of the property. Underscoring the dilemma facing Israel, whose monthlong invasion of the West Bank has failed to quell attacks, a bomb exploded on a railroad track south of Tel Aviv early yesterday, injuring the driver but failing to derail the train. The remote-controlled blast was the fourth attack on a train in Israel this year, although none have caused significant damage or injury.
The fresh attack marred a cautiously upbeat mood after Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres renewed contact with Palestinian ministers, broken after two grisly attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Tel Aviv last week. Peres said he was satisfied with the meeting, but the head of the Palestinian team, Saeb Erekat, said he was not getting his hopes up. "We should fight terrorism mercilessly while being careful not to harm Palestinians who are not linked to terrorism," Peres said, adding that more meetings would follow soon.
Erekat said the talks were "serious and practical," but added that nothing had been agreed, except to hold another session between the ministers this week. "I’m not raising any expectations about the result," he said.
Meanwhile, a 25-day ordeal over humanitarian aid for Palestinians ended yesterday when a charter flight carrying a $500,000 shipment left South Africa bound for the embattled Palestinian territories. South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad used the occasion to call for Israel to leave Palestinian territories, large parts of which Israel reoccupied a month ago in a bid to stop bombings.
"There clearly is tragically a severe humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories unfolding as a result of the Israeli policies of collective punishment of innocent Palestinian civilians," Pahad told journalists in Johannesburg.
Pahad said he was happy Israel had finally permitted the plane to land. Authorities in Tel Aviv had said the plane was too noisy, underinsured and the paperwork was incomplete, drawing charges Israel was blocking the flight for political reasons.
