``I see this as a war crime. I see this as a crime against humanity,''

Israel Mulls Exile for Militants' Relatives
Israel destroyed the homes of two Palestinian militants and detained their relatives for possible exile on Friday, a new tactic meant to deter suicide attacks 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 militants in the first Palestinian uprising of 1987-93.

The militant Islamic group Hamas, which has spearheaded a campaign of suicide bombings against Israel, threatened to launch more attacks if the deportations were carried out.

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.

Expelling relatives of militants would reflect calls in Israel for tougher measures to stop suicide bombings, although Israeli human rights group B'Tselem warned the government that the step would be illegal under international law.

``One of the proposals under consideration...is to remove (their) families from the environment in which they have been operating and place them in other parts of the Palestinian territories, specifically in the Gaza Strip,'' he said.

Unlike the West Bank, Gaza is physically separated from Israel by a fence and there have been relatively few infiltration attacks from the area.

No date was announced for banishing the detained relatives, a move likely to draw an international outcry, and the men could be granted recourse to challenge the edict in an Israeli court.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast.html