|
U.S.: Jenin Unanswered, Let’s Stress Humanitarian Aid
WASHINGTON, May 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday there were "unanswered questions" about what happened in the Palestinian refugee camp at Jenin adding that efforts should emphasize on providing humanitarian aid to the area. Boucher did not mention Israel's rejection of a UN fact-finding mission and its challenge to the international law.
This comes the same day an interview with the U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was published in The Hindu newspaper, in which she called for a "clear investigation" into the anti-Muslim riots in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
Rice said there needs to be a clear investigation of those events and the right thing needs to be done, adding that: “We believe the [Prime Minister Atal Behari] Vajpayee government will do the right thing and we'll encourage them to do the right thing".
Boucher did not call for the same “right thing” in the refugee camp of Jenin, as he did not mention the U.S. position toward Israel ‘s challenge to the United Nations’ fact-finding mission, instead, he stressed on the importance of access for humanitarian staff and services, search and rescue efforts, and treatment of the wounded in the wake of fighting.
The United States had backed UN chief Kofi Annan's creation of a fact-finding team to uncover the truth of what happened in Jenin. US Secretary of State Colin Powell had earlier said: "It seems it is in the best interest of Israel to let a fact-finding team see the facts".
Faced by Israel's refusal to permit the team to start its investigation and its alleged objections to the proposed mission, including its composition, followed by Annan's subsequent disbandment of it, Washington has remained silent on the mission, saying only that it "regretted" the fact UN and Israeli officials had not been able to reach an agreement on the matter, news agencies report.
”Israel's refusal to cooperate with the mission proved that "its defence forces committed unspeakable atrocities against our people in the Jenin refugee camp", said the Palestinian representative, Nasser al-Kidwa, at the UN Security Council meeting.
As a reaction to Israelis position, the UN team leader, Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, defied Friday Israeli procedural objections to the UN mission, called the objections invalid and designed to hide the real reason for refusing the mission. Israel has ‘other’ reasons not to cooperate with Jenin mission, he added.
Team member Cornelio Sommaruga - former head of the Red Cross - said he was very disappointed that the mission was cancelled, as he was convinced that it could have helped to ease tensions in the region.
Meanwhile, the disbanded United Nations fact-finding mission to Jenin wrote to Secretary General Kofi Annan calling for a constant international presence in Palestinian refugee camps.
According to a report released Friday by Human Rights Watch, Israeli troops used Palestinian civilians as human shields and forced them to participate in dangerous military operations during the Israel sweep through a refugee camp in Jenin last month.
"The abuses we documented in Jenin are extremely serious, and in some cases appear to be war crimes," said Peter Bouckaert, senior researcher for the group and a member of the investigative team. According to Human Rights Watch, using civilians in such ways during a military operation violates the Geneva Convention.
"Criminal investigations are needed to ascertain individual responsibility for the most serious violations. Such investigations are first and foremost the duty of the Israeli government, but the international community needs to ensure that meaningful accountability occurs," he said.
Bouckaert explained that the Israeli army had an obligation under international law to take all possible precautions to protect the civilian population. "Clearly, the Israeli army failed to take the necessary precautions during its attack," he added.
According to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), Israel found itself isolated Friday in an open debate in the Security Council on its rejection of a UN fact-finding mission to the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin.
Al-Kidwa told the council that its "back-tracking" was "a real scandal", while Egypt's ambassador Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the council had suffered a loss of credibility and authority.
During the six-hour debate, in which a total of 38 speakers took part, Arab nations said they would ask the UN General Assembly to accuse Israel of war crimes.
Meanwhile the United States struggled to explain its concept of a Middle East peace conference planned for the summer, backed by the international diplomatic grouping that includes the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. The conference has no fixed agenda, no venue, no date and no list of participants.
While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets in Washington Tuesday with U.S. President George W. Bush, Israeli military operations in Palestinian territories of the West Bank continued on Friday and at least two Palestinians and an Israeli died, as the Palestinian resistance continued.
|
