Palestinians’ homes demolished

JERUSALEM: Israel demolished the homes of two Palestinians who committed separate attacks against Israelis that killed five people, the military said Tuesday.
The West Bank homes of the attackers, identified as Raid Halil and Mahmoud Harub, were demolished as a five month-long wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence is roiling the region.
The assailants carried out two separate attacks on the same day last November. One stabbed and killed two Israelis in a Tel Aviv office building. The other opened fire on cars in the West Bank, killing one Israeli, an American student and a Palestinian. Both attackers were apprehended.
Israel says home demolitions are an effective tool that can deter attacks but critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment.
Since the violence erupted in September, Israel has killed at least 119 Palestinians out of the total 166 Palestinian deaths. The rest have been killed in clashes. Some 28 Israelis is said to have also been killed in in the violence.
Israel accuses Palestinians of fueling a campaign of lies and incitement. The Palestinians says it is the result of frustrations stemming from nearly 50 years of occupation.
Also on Tuesday, more than 30 former Israeli generals, ministers and other officials called for the division of Jerusalem, saying a wall should be erected between the Jewish and Arab sides of the city. In a full-page ad in the daily Yediot Aharonot, the group said Israel’s capture and annexation of those areas in the 1967 Mideast war was a “historic error.”