POWELL CONTRADICTS PERES : JENIN - MASSACRE OR MASSADA ?

POWELL CONTRADICTS PERES : JENIN - MASSACRE OR MASSADA ?


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POWELL CONTRADICTS PERES : JENIN - MASSACRE OR MASSADA ?

Peres said so, but....Colin Powell says no evidence so far of Massacre at Jenin

By Scott Shepard /Cox News Service 4-25-02

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Colin Powell, in his first Capitol Hill appearance since his peace mission to the Middle East, told Congress on Wednesday that he has seen no evidence of an Israeli massacre at the Jenin Palestinian refugee camp.

"Clearly, innocent lives may have been lost," Powell said in response to questions from senators during a hearing on the State Department's budget. But, "right now," he added, "I've seen no evidence of mass graves, and I've seen no evidence that would suggest a massacre took place."

Rest of story :

http://www.coxnews.com/newsservice/stories/2002/0425-POWELL-COX.html

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CONTRARY TO COLIN POWELL, SHIMON PERES ADMITTED IN THE BEGINNING ;

ISRAELI PRESS : w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m

URL : http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=150051
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Peres calls IDF operation in Jenin a " MASSACRE "

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres Peres is very worried about the expected international reaction as soon as the world learns the details of the tough battle in the Jenin refugee camps, where more than 100 Palestinians have already been killed in fighting with IDF forces. In private, Peres is referring to the battle as a "massacre."

IDF officers also expressed grave reservations Monday over the operation in Jenin. "Because of the dangers," they said, "the soldiers are almost not advancing on foot. The bulldozers are simply 'shaving' the homes and causing terrible destruction.

When the world sees the pictures of what we have done there, it will do us immense damage."

"However many wanted men we kill in the refugee camp, and however much of the terror infrastructure we expose and destroy there, there is still no justification for causing such great destruction."

Peres, who is feeling increasingly isolated in the government - Sharon added three hard-line ministers to his cabinet Monday - believes Arafat is still
irreplaceable at this stage.

He does not regard the documents that Sharon presented Monday in the Knesset as a "smoking gun" that irrefutably proves that Arafat was directly linked
to ordering terrorist activity. And Israel's isolation of the Palestinian leader, he believes, only enhanced his prestige and turned him into the key player. ( ).

By Aluf Benn and Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Correspondents
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