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UN issues 'seriously flawed' report on Jenin killings
The Israeli authorities did not allow the UN to visit Jenin to reseach its report, but investigators from the independent Human Rights Watch organisation (HRW) who did visit the site shortly after the fighting ended, found prima facie evidence of war crimes.
UN issues 'seriously flawed' report on Jenin killings
Long awaited investigation repudiates massacre claim and fails to blame Israel
By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem
02 August 2002
The United Nations yesterday released its report on Israel's attack on Jenin in April. The report has been long awaited by Palestinians and by human rights groups who accused the Israeli army of war crimes in the Jenin refugee camp.
However, the new report contained little new information and did not do much to address those accusations. It accused both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants of endangering the lives of civilians.
Human rights groups said yesterday the report was "seriously flawed". The Israeli government welcomed it, saying it repudiated Palestinian claims there had been a massacre of 500 people in Jenin.
The report says at least 52 Palestinians - of whom up to half may have been civilians - and 23 Israeli soldiers died during the fighting in Jenin.
Allegations of a massacre have obscured the issue from the moment they were first made by Palestinian officials without evidence.
The Israeli authorities did not allow the UN to visit Jenin to reseach its report, but investigators from the independent Human Rights Watch organisation (HRW) who did visit the site shortly after the fighting ended, found prima facie evidence of war crimes.
An investigation by The Independent inside Jenin shortly after the fighting unearthed numerous corroborating accounts of atrocities.
Of the many victims whose stories were published on 3 May in The Independent, only Fadwa Jamma, a Palestinian nurse who was shot through the heart while trying to tend a wounded man is mentioned in the new UN report. She was in full uniform and could be clearly seen.
Fourteen-year-old Faris Zeben, who was shot dead by an Israeli tank when he went shopping when the curfew was lifted, is not mentioned.
Nor is Afaf Desuqi, killed when Israeli soldiers blew open the door of her house as she tried to open it for them. Nor Kemal Zughayer, shot dead as he tried to wheel himself up the road in his wheelchair.
The Israeli army's complete bulldozing of an area of housing that measured 400 metres by 500 metres is not described. The report notes that 150 buildings were destroyed.
There is no mention of evidence found by both HRW and Amnesty International that extrajudicial killings of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers took place. The UN report is carefully worded not to give offence to Israel or its allies. It deliberately draws no conclusions, but only compiles evidence from various sources. It came about after the debacle when a fact-finding mission mandated by the UN security council was refused access to Jenin by the Israeli authorities - who originally said they would cooperate.
Because the UN was refused access, the report is based entirely on evidence from secondary sources, much of it already in the public domain. Despite being invited to, the Israeli government did not provide any evidence.
"Of particular concern is the use, by combatants on both sides, of violence that placed civilians in harm's way," the report says, accusing Palestinian militants of establishing bases in the heavily populated Jenin refugee camp, and the Israeli army of using heavy weaponry on the camp.
"That the Israeli Defence Forces [army] encountered heavy resistance is not in question," the report reads. "Nor is the fact that Palestinian militants...adopted methods which constitute breaches of interntaional law...Clarity and certainty remain elusive, however, on the policy and facts of the IDF response...The government of Israel maintains the IDF 'clearly took all possible measures not to hurt civilian life'...some human rights groups and Palestinian eyewitnesses assert that IDF soldiers did not take all possible measures to avoid hurting civilians, and even used some as human shields."
The use of Palestinians as human shields by the Israeli army in Jenin has been extensively documented, both by human rights organisations and reporters who were on the scene. The UN report consistently gives equal weight to evidence collected on the ground and to Israeli government statements.
The report is at its clearest on Israel's blocking ambulances' and medical workers' access to the wounded, a breach of the Geneva conventions. "There is a concensus among humanitarian personnel who were present on the ground that the delays endangered the lives of many wounded and ill," it says. The report notes the targetting of medical personnel like Fadwa Jamma by the Israeli army.
On the number of civilians among the 52 confirmed Palestinian dead, the report is vague. "It is impossible to determine with precision," it says, quoting both the Israeli government's figure of 14, and HRW's of 22.
"The UN's report is seriously flawed," said Miranda Sissons, a co-author of the HRW report on Jenin. "It could have done much more and it doesn't move us forward in trying to establish the truth. It's a good example of the dangers of doing a report with no access to evidence on the ground."
In its response to the report, the Israeli government concentrated on the finding that Palestinian claims of 500 deaths were unfounded.
"The report overwhelmingly negates this Palestinian fabrication and repudiates the malicious lies spread regarding the issue," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"It does confirm what we felt all along which was that there was no massacre in Jenin," said John Negroponte, the US ambassador to the United Nations. The Palestinians, too, welcomed the report, trying to find what they could in it. Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian Planning Minister, said: "I know it does not satisfy everybody ... but still it identifies what happens in Jenin as a war crime against humanity and that is very important" - although the report does not mention war crimes.
Kofi Annan said: "While some of the facts may be in dispute, I think it is clear that the Palestinian population have suffered and are suffering the humanitarian consequences which are very severe".
Long awaited investigation repudiates massacre claim and fails to blame Israel
By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem
02 August 2002
The United Nations yesterday released its report on Israel's attack on Jenin in April. The report has been long awaited by Palestinians and by human rights groups who accused the Israeli army of war crimes in the Jenin refugee camp.
However, the new report contained little new information and did not do much to address those accusations. It accused both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants of endangering the lives of civilians.
Human rights groups said yesterday the report was "seriously flawed". The Israeli government welcomed it, saying it repudiated Palestinian claims there had been a massacre of 500 people in Jenin.
The report says at least 52 Palestinians - of whom up to half may have been civilians - and 23 Israeli soldiers died during the fighting in Jenin.
Allegations of a massacre have obscured the issue from the moment they were first made by Palestinian officials without evidence.
The Israeli authorities did not allow the UN to visit Jenin to reseach its report, but investigators from the independent Human Rights Watch organisation (HRW) who did visit the site shortly after the fighting ended, found prima facie evidence of war crimes.
An investigation by The Independent inside Jenin shortly after the fighting unearthed numerous corroborating accounts of atrocities.
Of the many victims whose stories were published on 3 May in The Independent, only Fadwa Jamma, a Palestinian nurse who was shot through the heart while trying to tend a wounded man is mentioned in the new UN report. She was in full uniform and could be clearly seen.
Fourteen-year-old Faris Zeben, who was shot dead by an Israeli tank when he went shopping when the curfew was lifted, is not mentioned.
Nor is Afaf Desuqi, killed when Israeli soldiers blew open the door of her house as she tried to open it for them. Nor Kemal Zughayer, shot dead as he tried to wheel himself up the road in his wheelchair.
The Israeli army's complete bulldozing of an area of housing that measured 400 metres by 500 metres is not described. The report notes that 150 buildings were destroyed.
There is no mention of evidence found by both HRW and Amnesty International that extrajudicial killings of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers took place. The UN report is carefully worded not to give offence to Israel or its allies. It deliberately draws no conclusions, but only compiles evidence from various sources. It came about after the debacle when a fact-finding mission mandated by the UN security council was refused access to Jenin by the Israeli authorities - who originally said they would cooperate.
Because the UN was refused access, the report is based entirely on evidence from secondary sources, much of it already in the public domain. Despite being invited to, the Israeli government did not provide any evidence.
"Of particular concern is the use, by combatants on both sides, of violence that placed civilians in harm's way," the report says, accusing Palestinian militants of establishing bases in the heavily populated Jenin refugee camp, and the Israeli army of using heavy weaponry on the camp.
"That the Israeli Defence Forces [army] encountered heavy resistance is not in question," the report reads. "Nor is the fact that Palestinian militants...adopted methods which constitute breaches of interntaional law...Clarity and certainty remain elusive, however, on the policy and facts of the IDF response...The government of Israel maintains the IDF 'clearly took all possible measures not to hurt civilian life'...some human rights groups and Palestinian eyewitnesses assert that IDF soldiers did not take all possible measures to avoid hurting civilians, and even used some as human shields."
The use of Palestinians as human shields by the Israeli army in Jenin has been extensively documented, both by human rights organisations and reporters who were on the scene. The UN report consistently gives equal weight to evidence collected on the ground and to Israeli government statements.
The report is at its clearest on Israel's blocking ambulances' and medical workers' access to the wounded, a breach of the Geneva conventions. "There is a concensus among humanitarian personnel who were present on the ground that the delays endangered the lives of many wounded and ill," it says. The report notes the targetting of medical personnel like Fadwa Jamma by the Israeli army.
On the number of civilians among the 52 confirmed Palestinian dead, the report is vague. "It is impossible to determine with precision," it says, quoting both the Israeli government's figure of 14, and HRW's of 22.
"The UN's report is seriously flawed," said Miranda Sissons, a co-author of the HRW report on Jenin. "It could have done much more and it doesn't move us forward in trying to establish the truth. It's a good example of the dangers of doing a report with no access to evidence on the ground."
In its response to the report, the Israeli government concentrated on the finding that Palestinian claims of 500 deaths were unfounded.
"The report overwhelmingly negates this Palestinian fabrication and repudiates the malicious lies spread regarding the issue," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"It does confirm what we felt all along which was that there was no massacre in Jenin," said John Negroponte, the US ambassador to the United Nations. The Palestinians, too, welcomed the report, trying to find what they could in it. Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian Planning Minister, said: "I know it does not satisfy everybody ... but still it identifies what happens in Jenin as a war crime against humanity and that is very important" - although the report does not mention war crimes.
Kofi Annan said: "While some of the facts may be in dispute, I think it is clear that the Palestinian population have suffered and are suffering the humanitarian consequences which are very severe".
For more information:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle...
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I find these quotes VERY interesting...so...this report does NOT in fact state 'a massacre' did not take place.
How many people will this LITTLE fact get across to?
==========================================
"Nowhere in the report did the word "massacre", which figured prominently in the allegations hurled back and forth after the April 2-12 Israeli incursion, appear.
But one unnamed senior UN official said just because the emotionally-charged term was not used did not mean such an incident did not occur."
============================
No Jenin massacre: UN
From Bernard Estrade
August 02, 2002
A LONG-awaited UN report has concluded there is no evidence to support Palestinian claims that more than 400 people were killed by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp in April.
Jenin: The UN has found both the Israelis and Palestinians endangered civilians
More world news
But both sides were taken to task for putting civilians in harm's way, and Israel was criticised for impeding the flow of medical and humanitarian aid.
Palestinian claims that between 400 and 500 of Jenin's 14,000-odd residents were killed have "not been substantiated in the light of the evidence that has emerged", UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in the 31-page report requested in a special session of the UN General Assembly.
Nowhere in the report did the word "massacre", which figured prominently in the allegations hurled back and forth after the April 2-12 Israeli incursion, appear.
But one unnamed senior UN official said just because the emotionally-charged term was not used did not mean such an incident did not occur.
A total of 497 Palestinians were killed during a two-month Israeli reoccupation of the territories, the report concluded. That included 52 people who died during the 10 days in April that Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were in Jenin.
More than 100 Israelis were killed in that same time period, victims of 16 bombings, "the large majority of which were suicide attacks", the report said. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers were killed in Jenin, 13 among them in an ambush.
More than 2000 people have died since the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, began in September 2000.
Annan's report said: "Of particular concern was the use, by combatants on both sides, of violence that placed civilians in harm's way.
"Much of the fighting during Operation Defensive Shield occurred in areas heavily populated by civilians, in large part because the armed Palestinian groups sought by IDF placed their combatants and installations among civilians.
"That the (IDF) encountered heavy Palestinian resistance is not in question.
Clarity and certainty remain elusive, however, on the policy and facts of the IDF response to that resistance."
Because Israel had barred access to the camp by a UN fact-finding team, the report was based entirely on information supplied by UN observer missions, non-governmental organisations and the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations.
Annan's report said the Israeli operations used "heavy weaponry in Palestinian civilian areas" and that in many instances, "humanitarian workers were not able to reach people in need to assess conditions and deliver necessary assistance because of the sealing of cities, refugee camps and villages during the operation".
"As the fighting began to subside, ambulances and medical personnel were prevented by IDF from reaching the wounded within the camp."
Civilian populations living under the occupation suffered "severe hardships," the report said, including protracted curfews, food shortages, lack of access to first aid and vital supplies and damage to their homes.
"While it is difficult to ascertain with precision the magnitude of the socio-economic effects of the incursions, available preliminary information indicates a sharp intensification of the hardships faced by the population."
The report, citing World Bank figures, said $US361 million ($666.67 million) in damages was done to the Palestinian territories during the incursion.
Israeli foreign ministry official Daniel Taub said today that the report, details of which were leaked before its release, was "absolutely categorical that there was no such thing" as a massacre at Jenin.
"The report is decisively clear on the international legal obligations of the Palestinian Authority to not only not engage in terrorist acts itself but to prevent any acts of terrorism emanating from areas under its control against Israelis."
Agence France-Presse
How many people will this LITTLE fact get across to?
==========================================
"Nowhere in the report did the word "massacre", which figured prominently in the allegations hurled back and forth after the April 2-12 Israeli incursion, appear.
But one unnamed senior UN official said just because the emotionally-charged term was not used did not mean such an incident did not occur."
============================
No Jenin massacre: UN
From Bernard Estrade
August 02, 2002
A LONG-awaited UN report has concluded there is no evidence to support Palestinian claims that more than 400 people were killed by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp in April.
Jenin: The UN has found both the Israelis and Palestinians endangered civilians
More world news
But both sides were taken to task for putting civilians in harm's way, and Israel was criticised for impeding the flow of medical and humanitarian aid.
Palestinian claims that between 400 and 500 of Jenin's 14,000-odd residents were killed have "not been substantiated in the light of the evidence that has emerged", UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in the 31-page report requested in a special session of the UN General Assembly.
Nowhere in the report did the word "massacre", which figured prominently in the allegations hurled back and forth after the April 2-12 Israeli incursion, appear.
But one unnamed senior UN official said just because the emotionally-charged term was not used did not mean such an incident did not occur.
A total of 497 Palestinians were killed during a two-month Israeli reoccupation of the territories, the report concluded. That included 52 people who died during the 10 days in April that Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were in Jenin.
More than 100 Israelis were killed in that same time period, victims of 16 bombings, "the large majority of which were suicide attacks", the report said. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers were killed in Jenin, 13 among them in an ambush.
More than 2000 people have died since the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, began in September 2000.
Annan's report said: "Of particular concern was the use, by combatants on both sides, of violence that placed civilians in harm's way.
"Much of the fighting during Operation Defensive Shield occurred in areas heavily populated by civilians, in large part because the armed Palestinian groups sought by IDF placed their combatants and installations among civilians.
"That the (IDF) encountered heavy Palestinian resistance is not in question.
Clarity and certainty remain elusive, however, on the policy and facts of the IDF response to that resistance."
Because Israel had barred access to the camp by a UN fact-finding team, the report was based entirely on information supplied by UN observer missions, non-governmental organisations and the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations.
Annan's report said the Israeli operations used "heavy weaponry in Palestinian civilian areas" and that in many instances, "humanitarian workers were not able to reach people in need to assess conditions and deliver necessary assistance because of the sealing of cities, refugee camps and villages during the operation".
"As the fighting began to subside, ambulances and medical personnel were prevented by IDF from reaching the wounded within the camp."
Civilian populations living under the occupation suffered "severe hardships," the report said, including protracted curfews, food shortages, lack of access to first aid and vital supplies and damage to their homes.
"While it is difficult to ascertain with precision the magnitude of the socio-economic effects of the incursions, available preliminary information indicates a sharp intensification of the hardships faced by the population."
The report, citing World Bank figures, said $US361 million ($666.67 million) in damages was done to the Palestinian territories during the incursion.
Israeli foreign ministry official Daniel Taub said today that the report, details of which were leaked before its release, was "absolutely categorical that there was no such thing" as a massacre at Jenin.
"The report is decisively clear on the international legal obligations of the Palestinian Authority to not only not engage in terrorist acts itself but to prevent any acts of terrorism emanating from areas under its control against Israelis."
Agence France-Presse
For more information:
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0...
Israel is still wanted for questioning
Leader
Friday August 2, 2002
In the wake of the Israeli assault on Jenin camp in the West Bank last April, Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, was in no doubt what needed to be done. "It is very urgent that we go in, find out what happened, and put all the rumours and accusations behind us," he said. But Mr Annan's hopes, backed by the security council, of quickly dispatching a fact-finding mission to Jenin and other besieged towns were thwarted. Israel, with tacit US support, flatly refused to cooperate. The subsequent inquiry launched by default via the UN general assembly published its findings yesterday. Israel barred its authors from visiting Jenin or other parts of the Occupied Territories. It also refused to provide any information. As a result the report's objective, as stated by Mr Annan, is seriously compromised. The UN is forced to concede that some of its conclusions are tentative.
Given its obstructive attitude, Israel's almost enthusiastic welcome for the report is disingenuous. Its officials claim that the inquiry has cleared up "misconceptions" about what Israeli forces did in Jenin. In fact, it seems largely to confirm what many suspected at the time: that Ariel Sharon's army frequently acted recklessly and illegally in Jenin and other towns by disregarding the safety of Palestinian civilians, demolishing their homes about their heads, and blocking medical and humanitarian aid. This behaviour was serial. In fact the civilian toll in Nablus was perhaps double that in Jenin. The report reveals that 497 Palestinians were killed and 1,500 wounded in "Operation Defensive Shield" from March to May - far higher than previous figures.
Palestinian gunmen also acted recklessly and illegally, as the report notes, thereby increasing the civilian toll. And indeed, both sides' continuing, callous disregard for civilian life is the single most distressing feature of this conflict. Its resulting horrors were again evident in Jerusalem on Wednesday. But in Jenin and elsewhere last spring, as in Gaza last week, Israel exceeded the limits of its legal right to self-defence. It placed itself in prima facie breach of the fourth Geneva convention and the international covenant on civil and political rights. Specifically, after an ambush on April 9 in Jenin that killed 13 soldiers, it resorted to random, vengeful acts of terror involving civilians. As we said last April, the destruction wrought in Jenin looked and smelled like a crime. On the basis of the UN's findings, it still does.
Leader
Friday August 2, 2002
In the wake of the Israeli assault on Jenin camp in the West Bank last April, Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, was in no doubt what needed to be done. "It is very urgent that we go in, find out what happened, and put all the rumours and accusations behind us," he said. But Mr Annan's hopes, backed by the security council, of quickly dispatching a fact-finding mission to Jenin and other besieged towns were thwarted. Israel, with tacit US support, flatly refused to cooperate. The subsequent inquiry launched by default via the UN general assembly published its findings yesterday. Israel barred its authors from visiting Jenin or other parts of the Occupied Territories. It also refused to provide any information. As a result the report's objective, as stated by Mr Annan, is seriously compromised. The UN is forced to concede that some of its conclusions are tentative.
Given its obstructive attitude, Israel's almost enthusiastic welcome for the report is disingenuous. Its officials claim that the inquiry has cleared up "misconceptions" about what Israeli forces did in Jenin. In fact, it seems largely to confirm what many suspected at the time: that Ariel Sharon's army frequently acted recklessly and illegally in Jenin and other towns by disregarding the safety of Palestinian civilians, demolishing their homes about their heads, and blocking medical and humanitarian aid. This behaviour was serial. In fact the civilian toll in Nablus was perhaps double that in Jenin. The report reveals that 497 Palestinians were killed and 1,500 wounded in "Operation Defensive Shield" from March to May - far higher than previous figures.
Palestinian gunmen also acted recklessly and illegally, as the report notes, thereby increasing the civilian toll. And indeed, both sides' continuing, callous disregard for civilian life is the single most distressing feature of this conflict. Its resulting horrors were again evident in Jerusalem on Wednesday. But in Jenin and elsewhere last spring, as in Gaza last week, Israel exceeded the limits of its legal right to self-defence. It placed itself in prima facie breach of the fourth Geneva convention and the international covenant on civil and political rights. Specifically, after an ambush on April 9 in Jenin that killed 13 soldiers, it resorted to random, vengeful acts of terror involving civilians. As we said last April, the destruction wrought in Jenin looked and smelled like a crime. On the basis of the UN's findings, it still does.
For more information:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2...
The web site tells it all - warning: VERY GRAPHIC PICTURES !
I
I
For more information:
http://www.jenin.org
LIAR 'abu'.
That is a ZIONIST PROPAGANDA site, which he constantly posts all over the net along with many others!
http://this.is/jenin/
The above is a site by a couple of European artists describing their time in Jenin. It's a touching site.
That is a ZIONIST PROPAGANDA site, which he constantly posts all over the net along with many others!
http://this.is/jenin/
The above is a site by a couple of European artists describing their time in Jenin. It's a touching site.
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