UNITED
NATIONS, August 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Palestinian
officials refuted Thursday, August 1, a U.N. report on the Israeli
incursion into the West bank refugee camp of Jenin, which criticized
Israel for not allowing access to rescue services in the battle but
rejected charges of a massacre of civilians.
Nabil
Abu Rudeina, a top aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, said
the Palestinian Authority (PA) wanted an extraordinary session of the
U.N. General Assembly to review the U.N. report on the battle with a
view to "incriminating Israel."
Palestinian
negotiator Saeb Erakat insisted that a massacre occurred, although the
officials admitted there was little chance of winning a change in the
U.N. reports' wording.
"How
many civilians must be killed to speak of a massacre?" objected
Erakat, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Erakat
had charged that up to 500 Palestinian civilians were killed in the
Jenin incursion, while the U.N. report put the death toll at 52.
"The
Israeli massacre in Jenin's refugee camp clearly happened and this is
a war crime and crimes against humanity also took place," he
added.
"The
U.N. should have used the word 'massacre' or 'war crime,' especially
because the Jenin's camp is managed by the U.N.," said Erakat.
Rudeina
said the PA would take issue with the United Nations, focusing on the
report's criticism that Israeli troops refused access to aid workers,
U.N. officials and journalists.
"The
PA will present the U.N. report on the massacre perpetrated by the
[Israeli] occupation forces in Jenin's refugee camp for discussions in
an extraordinary session of the U.N. General Assembly," Abu
Rudeina said.
"The
goal of this extraordinary session will be to sustain international
diplomatic efforts and to [ensure] Israel bears its responsibility for
this horrendous and ugly massacre and be condemned for it," he
added.
Following
a request by the United Nations General Assembly, Secretary-General
Kofi Annan released Thursday, August 1, a report on the events
surrounding the Israeli military incursions earlier this year into the
West Bank town of Jenin and other Palestinian cities in what proved to
be the most extensive such operation by Israel in a decade.
“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 is very severe,” the
Secretary-General said Thursday morning in response to a reporter’s
question as he entered U.N. Headquarters in New York.
“I
would hope that both parties would draw the rights lessons from this
tragic episode and take steps to end the cycle of violence, which is
killing innocent civilians on both sides,” he said, the U.N. website
reported.
The
report, which was written without a visit to Jenin or the other
Palestinian cities, covers a period from the beginning of March to May
7, the day the Assembly adopted a resolution decrying Israel's refusal
to cooperate with a fact-finding mission proposed by the
Secretary-General and backed by the Security Council in order to
establish the facts on the ground.
Setting
out the context of the situation in Israel and the occupied
Palestinian territories, the report describes the security and
humanitarian responsibilities of both parties and charts the rising
violence since September 2000, which had by May 7, 2002 resulted in
the deaths of 1,539 Palestinians and 441 Israelis.
The
consequences of Operation Defensive Shield lasted far longer than its
officially announced conclusion on April 21, the report notes. Much of
the fighting took place in areas heavily populated by civilians, and
in many cases heavy weaponry was used. As a result, the populations of
the cities suffered, and continue to suffer, severe hardships.
The
report claimed, though, that the heavy civilian losses among
Palestinians was partly due to the armed Palestinian groups’ hiding
among civilians in an attempt to escape the Israeli occupation army.
The
report refers to Palestinian Authority and human rights organizations
accusations that in the course of its operations, the Israeli army
engaged in unlawful killings, the use of human shields,
disproportionate use of force, arbitrary arrests and torture and
denial of medical treatment and access.
In
part, the report points to the fact that over 2,800 refugee housing
units were damaged and 878 homes were destroyed, leaving more than
17,000 Palestinian civilians homeless or in need of shelter
rehabilitation.
The
report also cites cases where Israeli forces attacked ambulances or
otherwise failed to respect the neutrality of medical and humanitarian
workers.
As
for the death toll, the findings show that on the Palestinian side,
497 were killed and 1,447 wounded in the course of the Israeli
army’s reoccupation of Palestinian areas from March 1, 2002 through
May 7, and in the immediate aftermath.
Most
accounts estimate that between 70 and 80 Palestinians, including about
50 civilians, were killed in Nablus, where only 4 Israeli soldiers
were killed. In Jenin, by the time of the Israeli army’s withdrawal
and the lifting of the curfew April 18, at least 52 Palestinians,
possibly half of them civilians, were killed, while 23 Israeli
soldiers were dead.
A
senior Palestinian Authority official’s charges that some 500
Palestinians were killed in Jenin have not been substantiated in the
light of the evidence that has emerged, the report says.
As
for the overall impact, the report notes that the events continue to
have tangible repercussions, resulting in the sharp intensification of
the hardships faced by the civilian population in the occupied
Palestinian territories.
There
has been a near complete cessation of all productive activity in the
main West Bank centers of manufacturing, construction, commerce and
private and public services, exacerbating the severe decline in living
standards over the last 18 months, it said.
In
its findings, the report relied on "available resources and
information," as requested by the Assembly. Such sources included
submissions from six U.N. Member States and Observer Missions,
documents in the public domain, and papers submitted by
non-governmental organizations.
