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-News for Wed. 17 April to Fri. 19
April 2002 Israel Withdraws From Jenin VOA News 19 Apr 2002 15:49 UTC    Listen
to Ross Dunn's report (RealAudio)
Israel finished the withdrawal one day after a U.N. envoy visited the refugee camp and described the situation as "horrific beyond belief." Fighting in Jenin left wide-scale destruction and an unknown number of casualties when Israeli forces invaded to crush Palestinians groups that have carried out suicide bombings and other attacks against Israel. Palestinians insist that hundreds of people - mostly civilians - were massacred during the Israeli incursion in Jenin. Israelis say several dozen Palestinians died, and most of them were fighters. Israeli troops still encircle both the town and the refugee camp, in what the Israeli army says is an effort to prevent Palestinian terrorists from leaving the area to launch more attacks against Israelis. Meanwhile, Israeli tanks returned to the West Bank town of Qalqiliya early Friday, but withdrew after a short time. They also briefly entered Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where two Palestinians were killed in gunfire exchanges with Israeli troops. Also in Gaza, a
Palestinian suicide bomber killed only himself when he exploded an automobile
near the entrance to the Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Katif. Islamic Jihad
claimed the attack. The Israeli military says it shot and killed another
Palestinian man carrying explosives late Thursday near the Jewish settlement of
Dugit in northern Gaza. Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP. UN Envoy Blasts Israel for Denying Access to JeninVOA News 18 Apr 2002 20:01 UTC
Envoy Terje (Terry) Larsen said Jenin -- the scene of fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants -- smells of death and looks like an earthquake hit it. He called Israel's decision to block access to the camp "morally repugnant," and described conditions there as "horrific beyond belief." Israel declared the camp a closed military zone when it invaded April third, in a push to end a spate of deadly Palestinian suicide bombings. It had refused to allow aid groups or media unrestricted access to the area since fighting stopped last week, claiming many surviving structures are booby-trapped with explosives. Mr. Larsen denounced that argument, saying Israel could have allowed international experts to help clear the area of explosives and search for survivors. Meanwhile, the U.N. security council opened debate Thursday on the crisis in the Palestinian territories. Arab nations have been pressing for a security council vote on a resolution which calls for the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli troops in the West Bank and a U.N. investigation of alleged massacres at the Jenin camp. Officials say the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, might veto the resolution. President Bush Satisfied with Israeli Withdrawal from West Bank VOA News 18 Apr 2002 18:56 UTC
In comments before meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell at the White House Thursday, Mr. Bush said Israel responded quickly to his demand to withdraw from Palestinian territories. The President added Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is meeting his timetable for pulling out of the West Bank. Mr. Bush said he believes Prime Minister Sharon is a man of peace who wants to co-exist with his neighbors. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat responded angrily to that comment. In an interview with the French news agency (AFP), Mr. Erakat said Mr. Bush is rewarding state-sponsored terrorism. He said the comment proves the United States favors Israel. Secretary Powell was at the White House to brief President Bush on his 10-day mission to the Middle East, which failed to achieve a hoped-for Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire. President Bush acknowledged that one trip by Mr. Powell will not resolve all the long-standing problems in the Middle East. But he praised the secretary of state for laying out the U.S. vision of peace in the region. Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.
The BBC extract on this issue Jenin camp 'horrific beyond
belief'
The UN
envoy likened Jenin to an earthquake zone A
United Nations envoy has said that the devastation left by Israeli forces in a
Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank is "horrific beyond
belief".
Mini Editorial
Terje Roed-Larsen, who toured the Jenin refugee camp on Thursday, said it was "morally repugnant" that Israel had not allowed emergency workers in for 11 days to provide humanitarian relief. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked the Security Council to consider sending an armed multinational force to the region, under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter which authorises military force to impose council decisions. US President George W Bush said on Thursday that he believed an Israeli withdrawal was under way and that it was going to schedule.
"He gave me a timetable and he's met the timetable," Mr Bush said. Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erekat called Mr Bush's comments "a gift, a reward for Sharon's policy of state terrorism and war crimes". Israel pulled its forces out of Jenin town and part of the refugee camp before dawn on Thursday. Officials said they were also withdrawing from Nablus and that over the next three days troops would leave most West Bank areas apart from Ramallah and Bethlehem. Search and rescue The BBC's correspondent said Mr Roed-Larsen was highly regarded in the region and his criticism would put more pressure on the Israelis to fully withdraw. Palestinians claim hundreds of bodies are buried beneath the rubble, but Israel says the numbers of dead are far fewer. An independent forensic expert says evidence suggests that a massacre has taken place. Mr Roed-Larsen said the top priority was to bring in search-and-rescue teams. The only rescue efforts currently under way are residents digging though the ruins looking for survivors. "It is totally destroyed, it looks like an earthquake has hit it," he said.
"We have expert people here who have been in war zones and earthquakes and they say they have never seen anything like it," he added. Mr Roed-Larsen, who is the UN's Special Co-ordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, was visiting the camp with Red Cross and UN workers. He added: "It is totally unacceptable that the government of Israel for 11 days did not allow search and rescue teams to come." Kofi Annan made his appeal for armed intervention at a closed session of the Security Council. Israeli spokesmen swiftly rejected it while Mr Erekat said it was the "right way to start fighting Israeli aggression" Mr Annan said there was a need for a force large enough to take "decisive action" to end the deadly cycle of attacks. The multinational force should be assembled by countries willing to supply troops and should have "a robust mandate," he said, adding later, "I expect the United States to play an important role." Israel 'concerned' Israel invaded the Jenin camp on 3 April, saying it was a hotbed of Palestinian militancy and declaring it a closed military zone. Palestinian claims of an Israeli massacre in the camp have been denied, although British forensic expert Prof Derrick Pounder has said that the evidence points to large numbers of civilian dead. Prof Pounder is part of an Amnesty International team granted access to Jenin.
The partial pull-out by Israel came a day after the departure of US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who left the region without achieving a ceasefire or a full withdrawal of Israeli troops. Israel says troops will continue to surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where a group of armed Palestinians are among more than 200 people who have been holed up for more than two weeks. Israel launched its assault on Palestinian towns on 29 March after a suicide bomber killed 28 people celebrating the Jewish Passover. Israel says it will also continue to surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah For those not directly involved in the bloodshed of war it is easy to stand back as an observer and condemn the results of such conflict. Sport is not war but it is a form of civilized competitive battle. We call it a game to battle over a puck, or ball. But it is a battle to win. It is a conflict between two sides which we call a friendly competition. Even during such friendly competitions, feeling and emotions take over and violence often breaks out between the competitors. And as all players in a football match or base ball game will tell us, in the heat of the competition one responds the best they can and according to their training and instincts. So it should not be hard to imagine how the conflict of war which involves battle and killing can easily discard any sense of being civilized and carried on as a game. War is not a game that civilized but armed opponents can "play". War is a life and death situation from the moment it begins. Comrades fall and bleed, scream and die, and as this happens the combatants are concerned only with the battle and it's outcome. It is hypocrisy to impose "rules" of war. In any critical situation where any moment can bring death, it is unreasonable to assume that any of the combatants will be referring to a book of "rules". The winner in most such conflicts is the team that breaks the rules and plays to win. This is war not sport. This is hell not civilization. This is anything goes in the heat of battle not "rules" of the game. It is unfortunate that this is the case and is not to be justified but is the reality of war. During WW II the allies bombed communities that had no military significance. It was an act of punishment to demoralize the enemy. But in this Jenin conflict the enemy of Israel chose to hide with and behind the innocent and where the innocent live. This is far different than genocide. Some of those bombings in WW II would qualify as genocide. There were acts of mass murder directed directly at civilians and civilian communities and these hideous deeds were done with impunity. This situation at Jenin only underlines the horrors of battle when done in the midst of civilians and their communities. Who is to blame for where the battle takes place. The combatants that chose that place for battle, that is who is to blame. It then becomes a matter of military judgement to either allow the enemy to escape in this context or pursue and destroy them. During war it is rare to see, let alone expect, that the triumphant side would feel remorse and kindness towards the enemy with whom they did battle and spill blood. What happens instead, just like sport, the winning team rejoices over their victory. But this is not sport, it is war, it is fought to win at all costs. What lingers is a peace or great relief that one has survived, a joy or thankfulness that the battle is over, and a wounded and suppressed conscience full of pain from all the brutality and killing, and for many a hate of the enemy that took lives and shed blood even though they did not win. And it seems that this hate, bred in the violence of conflict, most often results in a lack of caring for the enemy, their race, their religion, their land , or anyone associated or sympathetic with the enemy. We have seen it occur during two world wars and we will undoubtedly see it again and again until Satan is cast into the lake of fire and can no longer lead men to their destruction. We ought to know better than to stand back and condemn such attitudes that rise out of the stink of war. If we hate war so much why don't we put an end to it rather than put on clean clothes and after a good meal walk into this hell and pronounce our condemnation of those that won the battle. They carry the hell of that battle with them, for some perhaps, through all eternity. God forgive those that murder and kill, and God forgive those that put on their nice clothes and walk into the aftermath of such killing and condemn it as if they have never done such themselves. According to my understanding of how Jesus would react to such a situation it would like this. If we do nothing, we contribute to the situation just as if we committed the crime. Yapping about the crime and feeling horror about the crime is not doing something. Doing something is changing the world so that such crimes such as war, terrorism, murder, genocide, and brutality of any kind do not and cannot ever happen again. And just how will we go about making that happen? What is our strategy for ending the reign of hatred that rules the mind of mankind? We certainly won't accomplish this by criticizing those that make war on terrorists We certainly won't do it by condoning war or terrorism. It won't happen with talk it will only happen with action. It will only happen when we all without exception lay down our weapons and cast out our hate and start to care for one another. We cannot even consistently do that in our sports games how then will be be able to do that when blood is shed and lives are lost. We are a pathetic breed full of hypocrisy and notions but have no will to live in peace with one another. We find all kinds of energy for dispute, and conflict but very little energy to care for one another. |
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President Bush is sounding satisfied with
the pace of the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and said he holds
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to his pledge to fight
terrorism. 
