Israel Demurs on Deporting Bomb Suspects' Relatives
Israel appeared to be backing off today from its plan to deport relatives of West Bank Palestinians accused of suicide bombings to the crowded, fenced-in Gaza Strip.

Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein told the Israeli Supreme Court that there were no immediate plans to deport any of the 21 male relatives of two militants who have been charged with masterminding two bombing attacks last week that took 12 lives. The relatives were seized in raids near Nablus before dawn on Friday.


http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/22/international/middleeast/22MIDE.htmlPrime Minister Ariel Sharon said at the weekly cabinet meeting today that, despite pressure from security services officials who saw the family deportations as a deterrent, the government would abide by Mr. Rubinstein's legal finding that only relatives found, case by case, to be directly involved in supporting suicide bombers could be deported.

The Foreign Ministry's legal adviser issued a similar legal opinion saying that "the movement of families of suicide terrorists does not conform with the rules of humanitarian international law. However, the Foreign Ministry statement emphasized that individual family members "who were involved or active" in the "commission of the suicide terrorism, including aiding and abetting the attack, could face punishment, including being sent to Gaza.

The deportation plan drew a wave of criticism from Israel's staunchest ally, the United States, as well as from the United Nations, the European Union, Arab states and human rights groups at home.

Meanwhile, Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's Fatah movement, which has been responsible for many of the suicide bombings this spring, threatened to attack the families of Israeli officials if relatives were expelled to Gaza.

"We warn the Israeli government against deporting martyrs' families, and if they do so, Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades will retaliate by striking the families of Israeli officials," the group's statement said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/22/international/middleeast/22MIDE.html