WEST BANK/GAZA: U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM BURNS TOURS DEVASTATED JENIN REFUGEE CAMP.
Record ID:
222982
WEST BANK/GAZA: U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM BURNS TOURS DEVASTATED JENIN REFUGEE CAMP.
- Title: WEST BANK/GAZA: U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM BURNS TOURS DEVASTATED JENIN REFUGEE CAMP.
- Date: 21st April 2002
- Summary: (U5) JENIN, WEST BANK (APRIL 20, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NEAR EAST, WILLIAM BURNS, TOURING LEVELLED AREA OF JENIN REFUGEE CAMP 0.06 2. MV: BURNS SHAKING HANDS WITH PALESTINIANS IN CAMP 0.11 3. CU: SOUNDBITE (English) U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NEAR EAST, WILLIAM BURNS, SAYING: "As I said before, what we're seeing here is a terrible human tragedy, and what's happened in Jenin camp has caused enormous human suffering for thousand of Palestinians. Its very important that the United Nations is launching a fact-finding mission to try to determine exactly what happened here with the co-operation of Palestinians and Israelis. It's extremely important that full and complete access be allowed for relief agencies so they can continue the work that is so desperately needed." 0.44 4. MV: BURNS TALKING WITH PALESTINIANS IN CAMP 0.50 5. GV: U.N. CONVOY DRIVING THROUGH MUDDY STREETS OF CAMP 1.07 6. GV: FLOODED AND MUDDY STREET INSIDE CAMP 1.12 7. gv/zoom out/lv: PALESTINIAN FLAGS ON TOP OF HEAP OF RUBBLE INSIDE DEMOLISHED AREA OF CAMP 1.20 8. gv: PEOPLE ON PORCH OF WRECKED HOUSE 1.23 9. gv: PEOPLE SITTING ON PILES OF DEBRIS 1.27 10. gv: WOMAN AND GIRL WALKING THROUGH RUINED STREET 1.37 11. mv: WOMEN HUGGING NEAR DESTROYED HOUSES 1.43 12. gv: BOYS SLIPPING INTO HOLE IN MOUND OF DEBRIS 1.49 13. gv/pan: WIDE SHOT OF BULLDOZER AMIDST DEBRIS, CROWD OF PEOPLE LOOKING ON 1.58 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 6th May 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JENIN AND NABLUS, WEST BANK/ RAFAH, GAZA
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVADUM2TY5DUXRR9ND6G0EICOFYH
- Story Text: William Burns, the U.S. assistant secretary of state
for the Near East, has toured the devastated West Bank refugee
camp of Jenin a day after an Israeli pullout ended two weeks
of reoccupation. Church organisations have delivered much-needed food
supplies to the West Bank city of Nablus. In Rafah, Gaza, six Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli gunfire. Israel said the Palestinians attacked soldiers with pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails.
U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Middle East
William Burns said a "terrible human tragedy" had taken place
in Jenin.
Jenin suffered the worst fighting in Israel's West Bank
offensive unleashed on March 29 after suicide bombers, part of
a Palestinian uprising against occupation, killed scores of
people inside Israel.
"What's happened in Jenin camp has caused enormous
human suffering for thousand of Palestinians, " Burns said.
He said it was "very important that the United Nations is
launching a fact-finding mission to try to determine exactly
what happened here with the co-operation of Palestinians and
Israelis."
Burns also stressed the importance of "full and complete
access" for relief agencies "so they can continue the work
that is so desperately needed."
He declined to comment on whether he saw evidence of a
massacre Palestinians allege was committed by the Israeli
army.
Israel denies any massacre, saying its troops tried to
minimise casualties in what was a "hornets' nest" of
terrorists.
At the United Nations in New York late on Friday,
delegates voted unanimously to send a "fact-finding team" to
Jenin, backing a U.S.-drafted resolution after Washington
threatened to veto a measure put forward by Arab states that
had called for a formal U.N. investigation of "massacres" in
the camp.
Israel promised on Saturday (April 20) to cooperate with
the U.N. mission to probe its crushing assault on the Jenin
refugee camp, saying it had nothing to hide in the face of
Palestinian accusations of a massacre.
An Israeli army spokesman said all its forces had
withdrawn from the camp apart from some soldiers now
extracting bodies for burial by families. Staff of the
International Committee of the Red Cross were observing their
activities.
But while the army said it had left Jenin and its camp, it
remained deployed around them to keep Palestinian fighters
from slipping out into nearby Israel.
A Jenin hospital official said the body count in the
refugee camp had risen to 39 but added that it could climb to
between 200 and 400. Israel says about 70 Palestinians died,
mostly fighters. Twenty-three Israeli troops were killed in
Jenin.
Trucks carrying boxes of food arrived in the West Bank city
of Nablus on Saturday (April 20).
The aid had been gathered by Christian organisations,
including World Vision and CRS.
"We came here to participate, to help the people and to
show them love. This is the meaning and the message", said one
priest.
Meanwhile, residents continue to survey destruction from
days of pounding from Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships.
Debris and rubble litter the floors of Nablus' famed
Turkish baths. The walls have been shattered by tank and
mortar shells.
In southern Gaza, on Israel's southern border, meanwhile,
six Palestinians were wounded by Israeli machine-gun fire, one
seriously. The army said Palestinians had thrown pipebombs and
Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers.
cr/pj
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None