Hum...strano...
Ti posto i miei risultati facendo solo la riga che ti ho detto
root@Lamu:~# iptables -A INPUT -p icmp -m icmp --icmp-type 8 -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-unreachable
root@Lamu:~# iptables -L
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
REJECT icmp -- anywhere anywhere icmp echo-request reject-with icmp-host-unreachable
Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target prot opt source destination
root@portatile:/# ping newserver
PING newServer (172.0.0.100) 56(84) bytes of data.
From newServer (172.0.0.100) icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From newServer (172.0.0.100) icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From newServer (172.0.0.100) icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable
--- newServer ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 1998ms
Forse è per via che risponde "Destination Host Unreachable" e quindi lo considera "up", se magari metti DROP come policy hai il risultato che speri
