IDF continues house demolitions of Palestinian families without notice. Israel Defense Forces soldiers yesterday stepped up punitive measures against relatives of Palestinian militants. Having demolished two houses on Friday, IDF men tore down nine more before dawn yesterday. Also, Major General Yitzhak Eitan, head of the Central Command, signed expulsion orders to the Gaza Strip for the sister of a suspect from Nablus. Palestinian residents on the West Bank complained yesterday that the IDF demolitions also damaged houses belonging to neighbors.

Ha'aretz The Israel Defense Forces will ask the Supreme Court Monday to reject appeals which would require the army to give militants' relatives prior warning that their houses were to be demolished. The prosecution counters that claims that such an announcement would endanger IDF soldiers, making them vulnerable to attack. The prosecution further argues that such a step is unwarranted at a time of war.

Racist talk like this doesn't bring us any closer to a peaceful resolution. It's bad enough that the government of Israel doesn't recognize the humanity of Palestinians, but to have some (apparently) American racists using slurs against the Israelis is almost as bad.

Rather than talk of eliminating some "enemy people", it's better to talk in terms of eliminating American funding of Israel, demanding rights for Palestinans as equals in the state, and as human beings.

Yes, the "holocaust denial" comment is confusing and slightly problematic. However,

the overzealous writer is, perhaps, in his or her own inarticulate way, bringing light to the

irony of the Jewish Holocaust in the 1940s given the current genocidal policies of the

state of Israel against Palestinians. Consider that some Jewish-Americans believe

they have a historical monopoly on genocide. Witness the lack of coverage of the genocide of

Native Americans at the Simon Weisenthal Center in L.A. That is a real problem.

However, I would disagree that "Zionazis" are the scum of the earth--I think the American

armed forces takes the cake on that one with a documented history of massacres and

genocides (yesterday was the anniversary of Nagasaki, look at Hiroshima, Viet Nam, Afghanistan

and Iraq, again and again cowardly murdering innocent civilians). Does that make one a racist for calling

out American imperialist forces? Maybe this person needs to use a language more effective

than "Zionazis," since the language against Zionism has already been co-opted by white

supremacists and other dingbats of that ilk. I shy away from using "anti-semitism" because

the IDF is very anti-semtic in its murdering of Arabs, whereas the power structure of Israel is

compose of mostly European (re: white) Jews. Maybe the critique of Zionism needs to be reclaimed by anti-imperialists, away from the real racist dingbats, who still indirectly support Zionism with their

idiotic white supremacist views.

peace.