[Reader-list] Palestine reporting

[Ravi Sundaram]

In this list we have witnessed a strange phenomenon, regular right wing 
support of Israel's murderous policies on the west bank by Yazad Jal. This 
is quite out of sync with the other postings. Recently Yazad Jal posted a 
piece from America's most far-right foundations - the Heritage Foundation. 
Heritage is to the right of the Republican party and what we are seeing in 
the US is the coming together of the Christian Right and the Israeli govt. 
policy. A strange turn-around from the time  in the 1930's most Jews and 
Communists were slaughtered by the Nazis, seen as one constellation. This 
is an open list and Yazad jal will continue to make these postings but this 
is a response to his post claiming that the Jenin massacre was a fraud...

Ravi Sundaram


Amnesty demands war crimes inquiry into Jenin invasion
Israel accused of 'very serious human rights abuses' in refugee camp, while 
skirmishes continue at Basilica of the Nativity
By Phil Reeves in Jerusalem and Cahal Milmo
23 April 2002


International pressure on Israel to explain its army's conduct during the 
invasion of Jenin's refugee camp grew yesterday after Amnesty International 
accused it of "very serious human rights abuses", and called for a war 
crimes investigation.
The human rights group said that it reached the preliminary conclusion 
there was evidence of crimes, including extra-judicial executions and the 
use of human shields.

Javier Zuniga, Amnesty's regional director, said: "We have concluded, on a 
preliminary basis, that very serious violations of human rights were 
committed. We are talking here [about] possible war crimes. We believe 
Israel has a case to answer."
Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary general, has named a three-member 
fact-finding team led by the ex-Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari to 
determine what happened during Israel's assault on the Jenin camp in the 
West Bank. The other two members are Cornelio Sommaruga, former president 
of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Sadako Ogata, the 
former UN high commissioner for refugees who is Japan's special envoy on 
Afghan reconstruction.

Mr Ahtisaari said he hoped the team would arrive in the West Bank later 
this week.

Israel's government has launched a public relations drive to counter the 
persistent allegations of atrocities, and to convince the world that its 
military offensive in Jenin was a legitimate counter-terrorism operation, 
aimed at ending a wave of suicide bombings.

An Israeli Foreign Office official acknowledged yesterday that a "terrible 
tragedy" occured in Jenin but placed the blame on Palestinian militants, 
saying they had endangered civilians by manufacturing rockets and setting 
numerous booby-traps in the heart of the camp.

Kathleen Cavanaugh, an expert in international law with Amnesty, said the 
group had gathered statements from witnesses saying the army had executed a 
number of people, particularly at the early stage of the operation. That 
matches accounts gathered by The Independent.

The offensive began on 2 April and led to days of intense fighting in which 
23 Israeli soldiers were killed and an unknown number of Palestinians. More 
than 40 bodies have been recovered from the scene, including at least three 
women, a 10-year-old and an elderly man.

A 12-person British search and rescue team of disaster specialists, Rapid 
UK, pulled four more unidentifiable bodies out of the rubble but said it 
doubted there were more. It is due to leave today, after 48 hours A large 
number of people are still searching for their loved ones, prompting 
Palestinian suspicions that bodies were removed elsewhere during the six 
days the army banned aid agencies and the media from the area.

Amnesty said it had testimony that old people and children were caught up 
in the fighting and given no chance to flee – a claim disputed by the 
Israeli army, which says it did everything possible to protect civilian 
lives after its forces entered the camp, home to 13,000 people.

Amnesty said it found no evidence of mass graves – an allegation made by 
Palestinians – but there were reports of the use of civilians as human shields.
It dismissed Israel's claims that the Palestinians killed in Jenin were 
mostly fighters. This was "simply not true", said Professor Derrick 
Pounder, a forensic medicine specialist from Dundee University, "In Jenin, 
there have certainly been mass killings – both combatants and civilians."

Smarting from the international backlash, Israel has trained its ire on 
Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN's Middle East envoy who enfuriated Ariel Sharon 
and his ministers by describing the scene at Jenin as "horrifying beyond 
belief" and a "blot on the history of the state of Israel".

He has been engulfed by a tide of condemnation from the highest levels of 
government, including calls for him to be made persona non grata. One 
member of Mr Sharon's government denounced him as "a racist, an anti-Semite 
and an apparent criminal". Mr Larsen said he stood by his words.
Attention will now focus on the fact-finding team Its inquiries will 
include trying to establish why the Israeli army refused to allow 
ambulances to enter the devastated area.