Israel Faces International Rage over Jenin

Israel faces rage over 'massacre'

London and Brussels politicians demand UN investigation of Jenin allegations

Ian Black in Brussels, Ewen MacAskill and Nicholas Watt

Wednesday April 17, 2002
The Guardian

Israel's international reputation slumped to its lowest point for two decades yesterday, amid condemnation in Britain and Europe of the Israeli army's behaviour at the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin in the West Bank.

There were calls for a United Nations-led inquiry into allegations that the Israeli army carried out a massacre and that its soldiers were guilty of war crimes. Senior politicians lined up in London and Brussels to express outrage.

The European Union's external relations commissioner, Chris Patten, in an interview with the Guardian, said Israel must accept a UN investigation of alleged atrocities against Palestinians or face "colossal damage" to its reputation.

In a Commons debate, Gerald Kaufman, the veteran Labour MP who is Britain's most prominent Jewish parliamentarian, launched a ferocious attack on the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, denouncing him as a "war criminal".

With MPs on both sides of the Commons condemning the Israeli incursion, Mr Kaufman said Mr Sharon had "ordered his troops to use methods of barbarism against the Palestinians".

Expressing fear that something dreadful had happened in Jenin, he said: "It is time to remind Sharon that the Star of David belongs to all Jews and not to his repulsive government. His actions are staining the Star of David with blood."

With the Israeli army still blocking full access to Jenin, it is impossible to establish even a rough body count. However, both Amnesty and the New York-based Human Rights Watch yesterday called for inquiries.

A senior Palestinian, Nabil Shaath, accused Israel of carrying out summary executions and removing corpses in refrigerated trucks. He said close to 500 people had been killed. Israel says 70 Palestinian fighters died in the fighting. "The Israeli army took six days to complete its massacre in Jenin and six days to clean it up," Mr Shaath said.

An Israeli government spokesman dismissed as "ridiculous" suggestions of either a massacre or war crimes. He said: "It is not at all clear why these organisations wish to investigate, given that they already seem to have made up their minds as to what has happened." He added that he could not recall "these voices of international morality" demanding inquiries into attacks on Israel funded by the Palestinian Authority.

Against this background, the chances of a start to the peace process appeared remote. The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, announced yesterday that he is due to leave the region today, having made one last attempt to negotiate with the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

US support for Israel remains strong compared with Europe, where anger against Israel reached levels not seen since the massacre at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in the Lebanon in 1982.

In the Commons, even the foreign secretary, Jack Straw - in recent months a strong defender in public of Israel - joined in criticism.

Mr Straw said he was "profoundly concerned" at the scenes "of widespread destruction of densely populated refugee camps. We are doing all we can to obtain an authoritative account of the conduct of the Israeli operation and of its consequences. I have to say as a long-standing friend of Israel that such scenes can only be harmful to Israel's reputation abroad".

The Foreign Office minister responsible for the Middle East, Ben Bradshaw, said the British government was concerned at "worrying reports" from Jenin. He added: "We expect the Israeli government to grant immediate access to all the international non-governmental organisations - the International Committee of the Red Cross and so forth - so a full investigation of events there can take place."

Mr Patten was even more direct, telling the Guardian: "It is in Israel's interest to behave like a democracy that believes in the rule of law. There has to be movement, and movement fast, to enable the international community to deal with this calamity."

He added: "If Israel simply refuses all the genuine calls for humanitarian assistance; if it resists any attempt by the international media to cover what is going on, then inevitably it is going to provide oxygen for all those who will be making more extreme demands."

Mr Patten, who also con demned Palestinian suicide bombings, would not be drawn on whether Israelis could face war crimes charges.

But he said: "Israelis can't trample over the rule of law, over the Geneva conventions, over what are generally regarded as acceptable norms of behaviour without it doing colossal damage to their reputation." He backed Mary Robinson, the UN human rights commissioner, who has been asked to lead a fact-finding mission to the Palestinian territories.

Poul Nielsen, the EU's aid commissioner, said the job of relief workers was more difficult in the West Bank than in Chechnya. "I am deeply concerned about the way in which basic principles of humanitarian law - in particular regarding access to civilian casualties - are being flouted," he said.


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