VARIOUS: UNITED NATIONS REPORT INTO ISRAELI ASSAULT ON JENIN REFUGEE CAMP FINDS THAT 52 PALESTINIANS WERE KILLED AS MANY AS HALF OF THEM CIVILIANS

Record ID: 338307

  • Title: VARIOUS: UNITED NATIONS REPORT INTO ISRAELI ASSAULT ON JENIN REFUGEE CAMP FINDS THAT 52 PALESTINIANS WERE KILLED AS MANY AS HALF OF THEM CIVILIANS
  • Date: 2nd August 2002
  • Summary: (W5) JENIN, WEST BANK (JULY 31, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV CARS DRIVING BY RUBBLE LEFT TO LIE IN THE CENTRE OF THE JENIN REFUGEE CAMP; SLV CHILDREN CARRYING GROCERIES ACROSS RUBBLE-STREWN AREA; SLV U.N. TENT CAMP WITH ONLY ONE TENT BEING USED (4 SHOTS) 0.40 2. MV PALESTINIAN WOMEN IN JENIN REFUGEE CAMP 0.47 3. SLV PAN U.N. FOOD DISTRIBUTION; SLV TRUCK DISTRIBUTING FOOD; MV SACKS OF FRENCH FOOD AID BEING DISTRIBUTED; MV PEOPLE CARRYING FOOD AWAY (8 SHOTS) 1.39 4. SLV PAN DAMAGED PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE BUILDING, WHERE ISRAEL SAID IT FOUND BOMB-MAKING EQUIPMENT, AND NEARBY APARTMENT BUILDING, AFTER BEING DESTROYED EARLY ON JULY 31ST (2 SHOTS) 2.01 5. MV BOY LOOKING THROUGH RUBBLE; MV PALESTINIAN SEATED IN RUBBLE (2 SHOTS) 2.15 6. LAS/SLV REMAINS OF APARTMENT BLOCK WHERE REFUGEES WHO LOST THEIR HOMES IN THE JENIN REFUGEE CAMP HAD RELOCATED, AFTER IT WAS DESTROYED BY ISRAELI SAPPERS; MV MAN STANDING ON REMAINS OF APARTMENT BLOCK (2 SHOTS) 2.30 (W5) JERUSALEM (AUGUST 1, 2002) (REUTERS) 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL, DANIEL TAUB, SPEAKING IN OFFICE "We undertand that the report is absoloutely categorical: there was no massacre. And reports from the Palestinian leadership talking about hundreds of civilians that were killed were nothing more than atrocity propaganda. We understand that the report is also absoloutely clear about the responsibility of the Palestinian leadership under international law to not engage in acts of terrorism and more than that to prevent attacks on Israelis starting within its territory. We think that these findings are extremely important, both to clear up the misconceptions about what happened in Jenin and also to pave the way for the possibility of restarting negotiations in the future." 3.14 (W5) JENIN, WEST BANK (JULY 31, 2002) (REUTERS) 8. LV PAN DESTROYED AREA INSIDE JENIN REFUGEE CAMP; SLV SOFA PERCHED ON REMAINS OF HOME; SLV TAXI DRIVING PAST RUBBLE; MV OLD MAN SEATED NEARBY, GAZING AT RUBBLE IN CENTRAL AREA OF JENIN REFUGEE CAMP (6 SHOTS) 4.06 9. UNIDENTIFIED MAN SPEAKING 4.20 10. SLV WOMEN WALKING ACROSS DESTROYED AREA OF JENIN CAMP 4.36 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 17th August 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JENIN AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK/ JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA7IIDOWC5DOUY7NC12MZY028BV
  • Story Text: A United Nations report into the Israeli assault on
    Jenin has found that 52 Palestinians were killed in Jenin, as
    many as half of them civilians, and 23 Israeli soldiers were
    killed. The report has been welcomed by Israel who says it
    shows there was no massacre in the West Bank refugee camp.

    A U.N. report on Thursday (July 31, 2002) into Israel's
    assault on the Jenin refugee camp rejected Palestinian charges
    of a massacre but faulted the Jewish state for endangering
    civilians by using heavy weaponry in densely populated areas
    and keeping out aid and medical workers.

    The report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan avoided the
    word massacre altogether and dismissed Arab claims that
    hundreds of Palestinians died in Jenin during Israel's
    Operation
    Defensive Shield, launched March 29 after a wave of suicide
    bombings in Israel.

    The heaviest fighting was in Jenin.

    The report said 52 Palestinians died in Jenin, as many as
    half of them civilians, while Israel lost 23 soldiers there.

    But 497 Palestinians died between March 1 and May 7 in the
    course of the Israeli incursion into Palestinian cities and
    towns including Jenin, the report said, citing U.N. figures.

    Another 1,447 were wounded, including 538 live ammunition
    injuries, the report said, citing local health authorities.

    On Wednesday (July 31) the centre of the Jenin Refugee
    Camp looked little different to the way it looked after the
    fighting stopped.

    Israel has refused to allow the Palestinians to remove the
    rubble and now it is part of the camp's bleak landscape.

    The Palestinian refugees of Jenin have abandoned the U.N.

    tents that were meant to shelter them after an Israeli assault
    damaged or destroyed their homes.

    Many remain dependent on U.N. food handouts. Others are
    reliant on foreign aid.

    And Israel continues to blow up buildings in the area,
    accusing the inhabitants of building bombs and hiding
    militants.

    Annan was asked to prepare the report after Israel blocked
    a U.N. fact-finding mission into Jenin in early May that had
    been authorised by the U.N. Security Council. The report was
    not an independent investigation but compiled from public
    sources.

    Palestinians, too, came under criticism in the report,
    which said 200 armed Palestinian fighters had used the West
    Bank camp as a base.

    Israeli authorities said the report vindicated them from
    accusations of a massacre in the camp.

    "We undertand that the report is absoloutely categorical:
    there was no massacre. And reports from the Palestinian
    leadership talking about hundreds of civilians that were
    killed
    were nothing more than atrocity propaganda. We understand that
    the report is also absoloutely clear about the responsibility
    of the Palestinian leadership under international law to not
    engage in acts of terrorism and more than that to prevent
    attacks on Israelis starting within its territory. We think
    that these findings are extremely important, both to clear up
    the
    misconceptions about what happened in Jenin and also to pave
    the way for the possibility of restarting negotiations in the
    future," said senior Israeli foreign ministry official, Daniel
    Taub.

    The report pointed to the ferocious nature of the fighting
    in Jenin.

    Using tanks, helicopter gunships and bulldozers, the
    Israeli army attacked populated areas, causing death and
    destruction. Hardships to civilians were compounded in some
    places by the extensive fighting that occurred, Annan said.

    In some cases Israeli forces did not respect the
    neutrality of medical and humanitarian workers and attacked
    ambulances, the report said.


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