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“The report shows that serious crimes against humanitarian law have occurred,” said Lindh |
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, August 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Israeli
foreign ministry issued a scathing condemnation of Swedish Foreign
Minister Anna Lindh Sunday, August 4, for her criticism of U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's report on the Israeli army incursion into
West Bank refugee camp of Jenin.
In
an official Swedish Foreign Ministry press release, Lindh said that,
“Israel's refusal to cooperate with the U.N. has meant that a full and
comprehensive report has not been possible to produce.”
“The
report shows that serious crimes against humanitarian law have
occurred,” she said, quoted by the Jerusalem Post.
“Particularly
disturbing is the report's information on Israel denying access to
humanitarian personnel to the areas in which fighting occurred,” Lindh
said.
On
Friday, August 2, Human Rights Watch described the U.N. report as
“seriously flawed.”
The
report, mandated by a U.N. General Assembly resolution after Israeli
objections forced the Secretary-General to disband a U.N. fact-finding
team, largely limits itself to presenting competing accounts of the
events during the Israeli military incursions.
“The
report doesn't move us forward in terms of establishing the truth,”
said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North
Africa Division of HRW. “Its watered-down account of the very serious
violations in Jenin exposes the risk of compiling a report without any
first-hand information,” he added on the New York-based human rights
watchdog website.
An
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman expressed “anger and
astonishment” at Lindh’s statement, saying it is part of a long
string of anti-Israel comments by the Swedish foreign minister, said the
Post.
Calling
her statement “tendentious and one-sided,” the spokesman accused
Lindh of allegedly lacking the courage to admit that she erred in
previous statements when she spoke of “a massacre in Jenin.”
“Lindh
suggests a nearly absurd allegation that the report is therefore
incomplete and its findings in doubt,” the Israeli foreign ministry
statement added.
The
foreign ministry further charged Lindh with setting the tone for a wave
of anti-Israel press reports with her April 12 statement in which she
called the Israeli army’s offensives a “shameful week,” the Post
reported.
A
ministry spokesman criticized Lindh for failing to condemn bombing at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem or sending condolences to families of
the victims.
The
university bombing came in the wake of an Israeli air-raid early
Tuesday, July 23, in which Israel used a U.S.-built F-16 warplane to
drop a one-ton bomb on a densely populated Gaza district, killing 15
civilians, including 12 children – one of them a two-month enfant, and
wounding 176.
Erika
Ferrer, the charges d'affaires at the Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv, said
she could not understand why the Israeli foreign ministry criticized
Lindh, and accused the ministry of reading too much into her statements.
“Normally,
countries try to maintain good bilateral relations,” Ferrer said,
quoted by the Post. “These kind of accusations are not fruitful and
should be avoided.”
She
said Sweden was included in the condemnation of the Hebrew University
bombing issued by Denmark, which holds the European Union rotating
presidency. She said she would not respond directly to the foreign
ministry's charges unless it issues a formal complaint.
A
frequent critic of hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Lindh
made headlines in May when she said in an interview in Sweden that her
goal is that "Israeli citizens will turn against the military
policies of Sharon."
“Israel's
government,” she said in the interview, “has chosen a course of
action that risks placing the country outside of the rest of the world
community.”
On
January 28, Lindh criticized U.S. President George W. Bush for being too
tough on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, saying the U.S.
reassessment of its policies toward the Palestinian Authority rewards
“Sharon's violence.”
“I
am very worried about this American debate,” Lindh said on Swedish
public radio. “I think this discussion equating Arafat with terrorists
is both inappropriate and stupid. It is a very dangerous policy.”
Lindh
said in January that it would be “just insane” to close the PLO
office in Washington and put Fatah and Force 17 on the U.S. list of
terrorist organizations.
“It
contradicts the entire peace process... and can only lead to outright
war in the Middle East,” she said.
Reached
on vacation in northern Sweden, Swedish ambassador to Israel Anders
Liden denied that Lindh is biased against Israel.
“It's
true that sometimes she's blunt and outspoken, but she is not
anti-Israel in any way,” Liden said.
“At
times she is critical, but I know her personally and I don't think she's
more critical of Israel than the other European foreign ministers.”
