Israel expels terror bomber’s relatives

ISRAEL yesterday expelled two Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip — an unprecedented step hailed

Thu, 05 Sep, 2002 - 01:00

the military as a powerful deterrent against suicide bombings and condemned human rights groups as a violation of international law.

Intisar and Kifah Ajouri, brother and sister of a militiaman who sent two suicide bombers to Tel Aviv in July, were driven by Israeli troops into the Gaza Strip on backroads to avoid media attention.

They were dropped off south of Gaza City, and each had been given 1,000 shekels (200) by Israel as an "adjustment grant" for their two-year exile in Gaza.

Relatives said the two Kifah is a house painter and Intisar a pharmacist would try to adjust to their new lives.

Israel's Supreme Court paved the way for the expulsions when it decided in a landmark ruling on Tuesday that the military could force relatives of Palestinian terror suspects out of the West Bank, as long as it proved they posed a security threat.

The court ruled that Intisar and Kifah Ajouri helped their brother, Ali Ajouri, dispatch two suicide bombers to Tel Aviv on July 17. Three foreign workers and two Israelis were killed in the attack. Ali Ajouri was killed in an Israeli military strike last month.

Human rights lawyers fear the court ruling could open the door to a creeping population transfer to Gaza, which is fenced in and easier for Israel to control.