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Israel Suffers Shaky Knees From Its Own Army Testimonies
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| “We were instructed to crush them, to fire on everything in the camp whether or not it attacked us” |
Report By Maha Abdel Hadi, IOL correspondent in Palestine
JENIN, April 27 (IslamOnline) – Israel now lives a nightmare, not only caused by the testimonies of the hundreds who survived the massacres in Jenin, but also the testimonies of the Israeli soldiers who carried out these atrocities.
For instance, Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Aharanot’s correspondent Ofar Sheilah quoted an Israeli soldier who took part in the Jenin massacres saying, “we received orders to fire on every window and every house in the camp whether or not there were gunshots from them.”
“We were clearly instructed to crush them, and to fire on everything in the camp whether or not it attacked us and we didn’t give them any chance to leave the camp. We entirely demolished the city,” the soldier confessed.
Israeli media has emphasized that testimonies such as this are the reason Israel’s stance has changed regarding the U.N. fact-finding mission which will be sent to Jenin. This came after a report written by Daniel Bethlehem, the International Law expert from Cambridge University in the U.K., in which he warned that the commission would interrogate witnesses and will insist on interrogating Israeli soldiers who took part in the military mission in Jenin.
“Soldiers who can speak to the committee with confidence will reinforce the Israeli claims but others who don’t will harm the Israeli stance and will put themselves in danger,” said Bethlehem, who is a foreign consultant for Sharon’s government.
He added that if the committee’s results reinforces the allegations against Israel, it will lead to a major change in the Israeli-Palestinian relation and will prevent Israel from opposing the request of dispersing International forces and the immediate formation of a Palestinian state as well as trying those who are suspected of war crimes.
Bethlehem added that Israel has lost the public relations war whether or not there was a massacre in Jenin. The international community is now convinced that Israel has used excessive force without discretion and has prevented humanitarian aid after the conflict, he said.
Israeli newspaper, Haaretz reported that the Israeli army has completed its debriefings of reserve officers who took part in the Jenin campaign, because “there has never been such a well-documented IDF operation”.
“As a result, the UN commission charged with investigating the events in the West Bank City will get a clear picture of the orders handed down all the way from general headquarters to the lowest of rifle squads.
“One reservist officer who took part in the operation in Jenin said he was worried about an upcoming business trip to Europe, fearing that even if he traveled on a second passport in his possession, he could end up in The Hague,” said the paper.
The paper added that the Israeli chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz, who opposes any cooperation with the UN commission, is considering preventing investigators from making direct contact with the army.
“A senior officer who took part in last night's deliberations proposed that the Jenin operation be viewed according to the precedent of "Mogadishu and not Kosovo." In Mogadishu, the Somalian capital, "a state's army" (the United States under UN auspices), operated according to "legal logic" against "an irredentist, non-sovereign group" (Mohammed Fara Aidid's militia), which operated from inside an innocent civilian population.
“The operation in Somalia reflected an inherent asymmetry between the two sides, just like the IDF operation against the Tanzim, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Jenin, while the official security forces of the Palestinian Authority were neutralized.
“In Kosovo, well-known - maybe too well-known - to commission members such as American General William Nash, there was symmetrical fighting between two ethnic entities, Albanian and Serbian, in which a third force - NATO – intervened,” said the paper.
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