What happened in Jenin?
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0i9o0#jenin

When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the refugee camp in the West
Bank city of Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield, they encountered
dozens of heavily armed terrorists shielding themselves behind Palestinian
civilians. 23 Israeli soldiers, who risked their lives to avoid harming
non-combatants, died in the fierce battle which ensued, while Palestinian
casualties amounted to 56 (the vast majority of them armed terrorists).
There were not hundreds or even thousands of civilian casualties, as the PA
had originally claimed, and the Palestinian allegations of a 'massacre' were
found to be completely baseless.

Jenin's terror industry - with its command centers, explosives laboratories
and arms caches - has produced over two dozen suicide bombers and countless
other armed terrorists. Prior to Operation Defensive Shield, the IDF had
avoided entering Jenin's refugee camp, a small yet densely population
section of the city. However, the appalling increase in attacks in March
2002 left Israel with no option but to strike at the terrorist
infrastructure sheltered within the camp.

Jenin's refugee camp was not only a staging area of Palestinian suicide
terrorism, it was also the site chosen by the armed terrorists to serve as a
battleground against Israeli forces. These terrorists had prepared the field
well, extensively booby-trapping houses and streets, and setting up sniper
positions within civilian homes and structures. They acted with no regard
for the safety of the camp's inhabitants or their property, and encouraged
residents, including children, to take an active role in the fighting.

Shortly after the battle began, PA spokespersons proclaimed worldwide that
Israeli forces had committed a "massacre" in Jenin. The Palestinians
originally said that 3,000 civilians had been killed, but gradually reduced
their claim to about 500. A few weeks later, after questions began to be
raised in the international media, a high-ranking Fatah official was forced
to admit that the death toll numbered only in the dozens. Kadoura Mousa
Kadoura, the Director of the northern West Bank for Yasser Arafat's Fatah
movement, told reporters that his own investigation showed that 56
Palestinians had died in Jenin during the operation. These were largely
armed fighters, killed during combat. The subsequent report by the UN
Secretary General, which found no evidence of a massacre, could only verify
52 Palestinian casualties.

The "Jenin massacre" myth is particularly galling since the IDF took great
care to avoid harming innocent non-combatants, even though this increased
the exposure of its own soldiers to risk. The IDF chose to employ infantry
in house-to-house sweeps rather than using heavier weapons which, while
providing Israeli troops with greater security, would also increase the risk
to the civilian Palestinian population. Israel paid a heavy price for this
decision - 23 Israeli soldiers were killed and dozens more were injured in
the fierce close combat that ensued.

The Palestinian Authority's unfounded allegations of a massacre combined
with misrepresentative television pictures of heavy damage - which in
actuality was confined to a limited section of the refugee camp - persuaded
the international community to embark upon a UN investigation of events in
Jenin. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan then initiated the formation of a
fact-finding team to develop accurate information regarding the events in
Jenin. Due to its high regard for the UN Secretary General, Israel
immediately announced its support for UN Security Council Resolution 1405,
which welcomed the Secretary General's initiative.

However, Israel believed that a number of points had to be clarified prior
to the arrival of the team in order to safeguard the impartiality of the
team's work. Israel believed that the team's mandate had to include an
examination of Palestinian terrorism in the camp that created the necessity
for Israel's military actions there. The right to self-defense, and the
obligation to combat terrorism, could not be ignored. Israel expected that
the Security Council definition of the mission as a "fact-finding" team
would be preserved and that the practices of previous UN fact-finding
efforts be maintained, including with regard to respect for the identity and
rights of individuals providing information. While Israel had every
intention of sharing information with the team, in the fight against
terrorism, some information must remain classified and it would have been
unreasonable to expect Israel to expose all of its security and operational
secrets upon demand.

As satisfactory terms of reference could not be agreed upon, Secretary
General Kofi Annan decided to disband the fact-finding team. By this time,
respectable news outlets the world over and human rights organization
finally confirmed what Israel had stated from the beginning - that there had
been no massacre in Jenin.

Unfortunately, the Palestinians continue their attempts to perpetuate the
Jenin massacre myth, often adding unfounded allegations regarding the denial
of vital humanitarian aid. In clear contradiction to their own claims, the
Palestinians often spread these lies in the same breath that they refer to
the refugee camp as "Jeningrad", a modern Stalingrad-like last stand, and
the site of a great and heroic battle.