UN: Jenin is 'horrifying beyond belief'

This is for the massacre-deniers who are saying reports of atrocities in Jenin are all a big lie.

Israel to maintain siege in Bethlehem

UN: Jenin is 'horrifying beyond belief'

Sarah Left and agencies
Thursday April 18, 2002

The Israeli military said today it will withdraw from most West Bank towns by this weekend, but will maintain the siege on Bethlehem's Church of the nativity and the headquarters of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, in Ramallah.

Troops are expected to pull out of the Palestinian towns of Jenin, Nablus and most of Ramallah by Sunday. Yesterday, witnesses reported that Israeli tanks had retreated from Jenin, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the three-week occupation. The Israeli army would not comment on troop movements there.

Five survivors were removed from the rubble of a Jenin refugee camp today, and Palestinians said hundreds more may be buried beneath the ruins of their former homes. Palestinians brought two bulldozers into the camp to clear away debris, and residents searched for more bodies.

At least 28 of the Jenin dead have been buried, most of them in a yard outside the hospital, but the full death toll was not yet known.

A UN envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, visited the camp today and said the devastation, caused by Israeli shelling and bulldozers, was "horrifying beyond belief".

"I think I can speak for all in the UN delegation [in saying] that we are shocked," he said. "Just seeing this area, it looks like there's been an earthquake here and the stench of death is over many places where we are standing."

"Evidently, there are lots of other corpses. And the stench is telling its own story around here," he added.

Despite the promise of an imminent withdrawal, troops moved into new territory today, raiding a West Bank village near the town of Tulkarem. Soldiers carried out arrests and searched for explosives, the military said.

Israelis and Palestinians were pessimistic following the failure of the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, to negotiate a ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Mr Powell flew back to Washington yesterday with nothing to show for his efforts, despite continued insistence by both the US and the UN that Israel cease the invasion "now".

"I regret that the mission did not end in a more promising way," the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, told Israel Radio. "The situation is at its most tense."

Mr Arafat warned that his continued confinement by Israeli troops would hurt Middle East stability and demanded the United States help end his de facto house arrest in Ramallah. Mr Sharon said soldiers would continue to surround the Ramallah headquarters until the militants he claims are inside have been arrested.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, today met with Mr Arafat in his headquarters.

Mr Sharon also said that the 16-day siege of the Church of the Nativity would continue until those inside have surrendered to Israeli troops. Israel cancelled a round of negotiations scheduled for today to end the standoff.

More than 200 Palestinian men - including 30 militia members, dozens of Palestinian policemen and Christian priests - have been holed up inside since April 2.

Mr Sharon ordered the current West Bank invasion on March 29 after a string of attacks on Israel by Palestinian gunmen and suicide bombers.

Since the fighting began 18 months ago, 1,508 people on the Palestinian side and 468 on the Israeli side have been confirmed killed, but the Palestinian death toll from fighting this week, mainly in the Jenin refugee camp, was still unclear.