Excerpts: Palestinians bulldoze in Jenin camp. Revealing Arab media
forum.War crimes --stretching a definition.More terrorism 29 April 2002
+++JORDAN TIMES 29 April '02: "In the Jenin camp, residents and workers
live in fear of unexploded bombs "
By Guillaume Bonnet
Agence France-Presse
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"A bulldozer on its mammoth clean-up mission has just triggered one of
the many explosives left behind."
"Two demining specialists from the non-governmental Norwegan Peoples Aid,
who arrived at the beginning of the week, managed to find 250 of these
objects in four days."
" `Perhaps its an anti-tank mine, because the Israelis were positioned
just above,' "
"they have gathered pieces of rockets, grenades, mines and even home-made
Palestinian bombs, including a section of pipe packed with explosive
material and welded shut at both ends."
=====================================================
EXCERPTS:
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank - A sudden blast rips through the calm that
has settled on Jenin camp after the Israeli onslaught that left much of the
jerry-built neighbourhod in ruins: A bulldozer on its mammoth clean-up
mission has just triggered one of the many explosives left behind.
[IMRA: David Holley, Amnesty International military expert, says
demolishing houses is a "collective punishment" -- a "war crime". But it is
evident that because of buildings booby-trapped by Palestinians and
dangerously damaged structures, it was reasonable to do bulldozing. Also, it
wasn't clear when the fighting was over.]
No one was hurt this time, but "unexploded devices" are the number one worry
of Jenin's rescue workers, many of whom are in the camp for the purpose of
locating and dismantling these time bombs left behind by invading Israeli
forces or Palestinian resistance fighters.
Already, the devices have killed a child and injured 13 people, including
five children.
Two demining specialists from the non-governmental Norwegian Peoples Aid,
who arrived at the beginning of the week, managed to find 250 of these
objects in four days. They marked them to facilitate their eventual
defusing.
Since Thursday, a team from French civil defence is doing the same
preventive work. In the camp, word of the presence of the team spread fast
and worried residents come regularly to ask them to inspect places they feel
are unsafe.
. . .
Alerted to the presence of the French team a woman brings them to her house.
She shows them a suspect metal cruciform object.
The fireman is uncertain. "Perhaps it is an anti-tank mine, because the
Israelis were positioned just above," he says, telling the children not to
play in the area, and again marking it off with tape.
... children are easy victims of these unexploded devices. They can be seen
climbing the debris of buildings ... .
Some even collect spent bullets that they find by scratching the surface of
the ground.
The French team has begun its own collection of deadly objects.
In a small area enclosed by sand bags, they have gathered pieces of rockets,
grenades, mines and even home-made Palestinian bombs, including a section of
pipe packed with explosive material and welded shut at both ends.
The rescue workers fear there are hundreds of such devices waiting among the
ruins of the camp. These will delay efforts to rebuild and rehouse families,
and may even leave more victims in an already devastated place.
+++JORDAN TIMES 29 April '02:"NYT's Tom Friedman steals show at Arab media
forum"
By Lydia Georgi Agence France-Presse
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"[Friedman] walked out after allegations he had been offered perks by
the Saudi government yet continued to criticise Riyadh."
"He ... insisted it was wrong to imply ...Sahron responded to the Arab
peace plan by launching its ...offensive on March 29 while overlooking the
Palestinian suicide bombing on the eve of the offensive."
"not true that he [Friedman] had nudged the crown prince to come up with
his peace proposal or that he had `put words in his mouth.' "
=====================================================
EXCERPTS:
DUBAI - Prominent New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman stole the show at
an Arab media forum here Sunday when he walked out after allegations he had
been offered perks by the Saudi government yet continued to criticise
Riyadh.
"I will not sit here and listen to that garbage. I came here at my expense
and that's exactly how I went to Saudi Arabia," he said after a member of
the audience suggested a plane had been put at his disposal during a recent
visit to the kingdom.
Friedman, who in February revealed Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Ben Abdul
Aziz's peace proposal, had already come under criticism at the forum for his
perceived pro-Israel bias, with some picking up an admission in his address
that as a columnist, he is "paid to have an opinion,"... "to be biased."
The US journalist was later persuaded to return to the forum, organised by
the Dubai Press Club ... .
Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa gave a keynote speech followed by a
debate on "How Western media views the Arab world and how it has changed
since Sept. 11."
. . .
... Friedman, whose appearance was unscheduled, later told the audience that
to suggest that he was "paid or bought" was to "cross a line," adding that
he would not have gone to Saudi Arabia after criticising it in the wake of
the Sept. 11 attacks or come to the UAE "if I didn't want to learn."
He stressed that he was in favour of a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but insisted it was wrong to imply that
...Sharon responded to the Arab peace plan by launching its ...offensive on
March 29 while overlooking the Palestinian suicide bombing coinciding with
...Passover on the eve of the offensive.
Friedman rejected a suggestion that he had misunderstood the "plane"
reference, which may have been meant to say that the Saudis had been
"hospitable" to him, not that he had been "paid or bought."
He also said during a chat with reporters it was not true that he had nudged
the crown prince to come up with his peace proposal or that he had "put the
words in his mouth," saying Prince Abdullah had the blueprint and asked to
be given 24 hours to think over his offer to put it on record.
+++ JORDAN TIMES 29 April '02: "Evidence of Jenin war crimes but no
massacre - Amnesty expert"
By Sophie Claudet Agence France-Presse
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
" `gave the Israelis the right to demolish houses where the fighters
were hiding,' ...stressing that he did not see 'anything pointing to the use
of illegal weapons by the Israeli army.' "
"Israel had 'no right to demolish houses after the fact and used
excessive violence.' "
" `Water and electricity were cut off on purpose ... a form of
collective punishment, according to international laws' "
"Holley also labelled as a crime of war the fact that 'the dead and the
wounded were not taken to the hospital between April 4 and April 13.' "
"He said he was confident the UN fact-finding panel would provide
further evidence ... but was sceptical about the value of collecting
testimony."
============================================================
EXCERPTS:
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank - A military expert for ... Amnesty
International said Sunday he had found no evidence of a massacre at the
Jenin refugee camp but had seen signs of war crimes ... .
The comments were made by David Holley, who reached Jenin two days ahead of
a high-profile visit Sunday by Amnesty's secretary general Irene Khan.
Palestinians say hundreds [IMRA: 600.] ... mainly civilians, were massacred
while Israel insists 52 Palestinians, most of them fighters ... died over
nine days of pitched battles that claimed 23 Israeli lives.
Holley told AFP that he did not see "any evidence of a massacre. The Israeli
army was fighting against some desperate (Palestinian) fighters here."
"This gave the Israelis the right to demolish houses where the fighters were
hiding," Holley said, stressing that he did not see "anything pointing to
the use of illegal weapons by the Israeli army."
However, Holley said that Israel had "no right to demolish houses after the
fact and used excessive violence."
[IMRA: Decisions for demolishing houses were based on considerations
such as that houses were dangerous because they had been booby-trapped by
the Palestinians, were structurally dangerous and were handy hiding places
for possible remaining terrorists.]
"I have never seen a battlefield flattened like that, ever," he said while
inspecting the wrecked camp's centre.
"You can't do that (bulldoze homes) while bullets are flying around. It is
clear that this was done after the fighting had stopped and constitutes a
form of collective punishment and a war crime," Holley said.
"Water and electricity were cut off on purpose ... a form of collective
punishment, according to international laws protecting civilians' rights in
times of war," he said.
[IMRA: But the Palestinians chose to fight within a densely populated
civilian area. Denial of water and electricity is permissable in war. Does
Holley expect Israel to separate military and civilian uses?]
According to preliminary statistics released Saturday by the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), 140 houses were completely destroyed by the
Israeli army and 85 badly damaged. Holley also labelled as a crime of war
the fact that "the dead and the wounded were not taken to the hospital
between April 4 and April 13. You can't deny medical attention to the
wounded."
[IMRA: Some were taken to hospital and some were not. Proof would be
needed on this score.]
Recalling the findings of an Amnesty International pathologist who conducted
two autopsies and examined three bodies on April 17, Holley said that "there
was cause for suspicion."
[IMRA: Suspicion of what?]
"Further investigation of the conditions in which Palestinian civilians were
killed" was needed.
He said he was confident the UN fact-finding panel would provide further
evidence ... but was sceptical about the value of collecting testimony.
"It is harder to corroborate testimony. It's one man's word against another,
or rather that of a Palestinian against that of an Israeli," he said.
[IMRA: Palestinians have a long record of exaggeration. The claim of
600 killed, mostly civilians, is a good example. The finding that there was
no massacre identifies a massive lie -- constantly repeated in the Arab
media -- designed to incite Palestinians and related populations, incite
the "street" and force a call on Israel to make concessions. All of this
follows the method of Arafat's charge, made directly to Larsen, that the
Mossad organized the 'Karine A' arms shipment and that Mofaz organized a
suicide attack in Jerusalem. Typically, Israelis eagerly publicize
Israeli wrongdoings. Note that there were no charges from Israeli soldiers
participating.]
+++JORDAN TIMES 29 April '02: "Attack raises new questions on cost of
Jewish settlements"
By Dmitry Zaks Agence France-Presse
EXCERPT:
TEL AVIV - A deadly shooting spree by Palestinian resistance fighters
disguised as Israeli soldiers in a West Bank settlement raised new questions
Sunday of the human and political cost of keeping isolated Jewish
communities on occupied Palestinian lands.
[IMRA: JORDAN TIMES still has not reported that a 5-year-old girl and a
mother were 2 of the 4 killed.]
Dr. Joseph Lerner, Co-Director IMRA
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