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undo PalestineRemembered, please do not ignore the discussion page. synthesis on the amnesty article was a problem as well and enough for a full revert.
Again, no reason given for deleting this important, properly sourced information. Editor objections have been addressed.
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*April 7 - [[Saeb Erekat]], a Palestinian minister and chief Palestinian negotiator is quoted in the ''[[Washington Times]]'' making the first allegation of a massacre made in a Western media publication.<ref name=CAMERA/>
*April 7 - [[Saeb Erekat]], a Palestinian minister and chief Palestinian negotiator is quoted in the ''[[Washington Times]]'' making the first allegation of a massacre made in a Western media publication.<ref name=CAMERA/>
::*[[NBC News]] hears from Secretary-General of the Palestinian Authority [[Abdel Rahman]] that "over 250 Palestinians killed".<ref name=CAMERA/>
::*[[NBC News]] hears from Secretary-General of the Palestinian Authority [[Abdel Rahman]] that "over 250 Palestinians killed".<ref name=CAMERA/>
*April 9 - The influential<ref>{{cite journal

|last=Beckerman
|first=Gal
|year=2005
|month=September/October
|title=Disengaged
|journal=[[Columbia Journalism Review]] |url=http://cjrarchives.org/issues/2005/5/beckerman.asp
|“Despite its lower circulation — about eighty thousand daily compared to six hundred thousand for Yedioth Ahronoth and four hundred thousand for Maariv — Haaretz’s news and editorial pages have serious impact. No one in the power elite can afford to ignore its daily, unsigned editorial.”
|Access date: 9/14/08
</ref> Israeli newspaper [[Ha'aretz]] reports more than 100 Palestinians have already been killed in fighting with IDF forces, and somebody who is very worried about world opinion once details emerge about Jenin is Israeli Foreign Minister [[Shimon Peres.]] Privately, Peres used the word "massacre" when he referred to the battle taking place. Ha'aretz wrote that grave reservations have been voiced by IDF officers on Monday over the operation in Jenin. "Because of the dangers," they said, "the soldiers are almost not advancing on foot. The bulldozers are simply 'shaving' the homes and causing terrible destruction. When the world sees the pictures of what we have done there, it will do us immense damage. However many wanted men we kill in the refugee camp, and however much of the terror infrastructure we expose and destroy there, there is still no justification for causing such great destruction." <ref> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=150051|Peres calls IDF operation in Jenin a 'massacre'</ref>
*April 10 - BBC reports that Israel estimates 150 Palestinians died in Jenin but Palestinians say the number is far higher.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1920463.stm BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Israeli pull-out on hold after bombing<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*April 10 - BBC reports that Israel estimates 150 Palestinians died in Jenin but Palestinians say the number is far higher.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1920463.stm BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Israeli pull-out on hold after bombing<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
::*[[Saeb Erekat]] on a phone interview to CNN from [[Jericho]], estimates 500 dead in the whole [[Operation Defensive Shield|Israeli offensive]] and states that the Jenin refuge camp no longer exists and that reports of executions are coming from there.<ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0204/10/i_ins.00.html 'CNN Transcripts: Colin Powell's Challenge' (April 10, 2002)]</ref> Israelis gave their response a short time later saying that it is a fabrication and a lie.<ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0204/10/ip.00.html 'CNN Transcripts: Another Suicide Bombing on West Bank' (April 10, 2002)]</ref>
::*[[Saeb Erekat]] on a phone interview to CNN from [[Jericho]], estimates 500 dead in the whole [[Operation Defensive Shield|Israeli offensive]] and states that the Jenin refuge camp no longer exists and that reports of executions are coming from there.<ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0204/10/i_ins.00.html 'CNN Transcripts: Colin Powell's Challenge' (April 10, 2002)]</ref> Israelis gave their response a short time later saying that it is a fabrication and a lie.<ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0204/10/ip.00.html 'CNN Transcripts: Another Suicide Bombing on West Bank' (April 10, 2002)]</ref>

Revision as of 16:22, 15 September 2008

Battle of Jenin
Part of the al-Aqsa Intifada, Operation Defensive Shield
DateApril 2002
Location
Jenin, West Bank
Result Israeli victory
Belligerents
 Israel IDF File:Fateh-logo.jpg Fatah (Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Tanzim)
Hamas
Islamic Jihad
Commanders and leaders
Yedidia Yehuda[1] Mahmoud Tawallbe †
Strength
1,000 200-250
Casualties and losses
23 soldiers killed 52 killed (38 armed men, 14 civilians according to IDF; at least 27 militants and 22 civilians according to HRW), and 37 captured.

The Battle of Jenin (Arabic: مجزرة جنين, Hebrew: הקרב בג'נין lit. Battle of Jenin) took place between the 3rd and 11th of April 2002 in Jenin's Palestinian refugee camp as part of Operation Defensive Shield during the Second Intifada.

Following numerous attacks by Palestinian suicide bombers on Israeli civilians, culminating with a suicide bombing at Park Hotel in Netanya during the Passover Seder (March 27, 2002), in which 30 Israelis were killed and 140 were injured;[2] Israel had deployed the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to conduct what it considered a large-scale counter-terrorist offensive, called "Operation Defensive Shield".[3]

As part of the operation, which involved invasions of cities and towns all over the West Bank, Israel targeted Jenin's refugee camp, after it determined that the city had "served as a launch site for numerous terrorist attacks against both Israeli civilians and Israeli towns and villages in the area",[4] including the dispatch of 28 suicide bombers since the start of the Second Intifada.[5]

The Israeli force consisted of infantry and armored vehicles, supported by attack helicopters. Towards the end of operations armored bulldozers were used heavily[6][7][8] which caused extensive damage and contributed to the destruction of around 10% of the camp area.[6][9][10]

The Israeli military denied entry to journalists and human rights organizations, leading to a rapid cycle of rumors that a massacre had occurred. Jenin remained sealed for days after the invasion. Stories of civilians being buried alive in their homes as they were demolished, and of smoldering buildings covering crushed bodies, spread throughout the Arab world. Various casualty figures circulated, reaching into the mid-hundreds. Palestinian sources described the events as "the Jenin massacre," and international media and human rights organizations expressed concerns that a massacre had taken place.

Subsequent Israeli investigations found no evidence to substantiate these charges; however, international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International alleged that war crimes had occurred.[11] The Palestinian death toll was estimated at 52 in early May 2002, while 23 Israeli soldiers were killed. According to the Washington Times, Palestinian officials counted 56 deaths.[10]

Despite new findings following the battle, including a decrease in the official death toll, most Palestinians and most Arabs continue to call the events of April 2002 a massacre.[12]

Background

For wider scope background regarding Arab-Israeli Conflict Second Intifada events from March until the first week in May 2002, see: Operation Defensive Shield.

The refugee camp of Jenin

File:City of Jenin and refugee camp.jpg
Aerial image of the city of Jenin (Jenin refugee camp marked in a square), prior to Operation Defensive Shield and the Battle of Jenin.

The camp of Jenin, adjoining the south-west outskirts of the Jenin city, is the second largest UNRWA refugee camp in the West Bank. It existed since 1953 and housed 13,055 in an area of 548 squared meters, forming a neighborhood of densely packed buildings alongside Jenin-proper and not far from the Green Line. It had come under Palestinian civil and security control with the rest of the city as part of the Oslo Accords in 1995, which dictated a prevention of attacks on Israelis.

Increase in militancy and terrorism

From the beginning of March until the first week in May 2002, there were approximately 16 bombings in Israel, mostly suicide attacks, in which more than 100 Israelis were killed and scores wounded. During the same period the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) led two waves of incursions into Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank. The first wave, from 27 February[13] through 14 March, had caused significant loss of life.[14]

After 18 Israelis were killed in two separate Palestinian attacks on March 8 and March 9, and a terrorist attack in Netanya killed 30 and injured 140 on March 27,[14] Israeli PM Ariel Sharon said No sovereign nation would tolerate such a sequence of events. while DM Ben-Eliezer stated a massacre of this nature is something that no nation can live with.[3] and within 24 hours Israel called up 30,000 reserve soldiers and launched Operation Defensive Shield in Ramallah and Bethlehem, entering Tulkarm and Qalqilyah a day later.[1]

According to Israeli and Palestinian observers who gave information to the UN, 200 armed men from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Tanzim, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hamas had been using the camp as a base, known as "the martyrs' capital",[15][5][1] and of the 100 suicide bombers who had launched terrorist attacks since the Second Intifada began in October 2000, 23[16] or 28[14][1] attacks had been launched from there. One of the key planners of attacks was Mahmoud Tawalbe, Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander of the camp.[1] Islamic Jihad's and Hamas' consistent rationale is that Israel has no right to exist, and that its existence is an affront to Palestinian interests and rights.

Limited Israeli forces had entered the camp along a single route twice in the previous month; they had encountered heavy resistance and quickly departed. The command decided to this time send in three thrusts comprised mainly of the reservist 5th Infantry Brigade/Nachshon from the town of Jenin to the north, as well as a company of the Nahal Brigade from the southeast and Battalion 51 of the Golani Brigade from the southwest. The force of 1,000 troops also included elements of the Naval commando and Duvdevan Unit special forces, the Armoured Corps, and Combat Engineers with armored bulldozer for neutralising the roadside bombs that would line the alleys of the camp according to Military Intelligence. Anticipating the heaviest resistance in Nablus, IDF commanders sent two regular infantry brigades there, assuming they could take over the Jenin camp in 48-72 hours with just the one reservist brigade, an assessment which turned out to be overly optimistic. The force's entry was delayed until April 2 due to rain.[1]

Since the previous Israeli withdrawal, Palestinian militants had prepared by boobytrapping both the town and camp's streets in a bid to trap the Israeli soldiers,[17] some of them as large as 113 kilograms (250 pounds). Matt Rees of Time magazine compared this weight to the 25 pounds of a typical suicide bomber's charge. They had also cut tunnels between homes to maintain mobility without exposing themselves to the street.[1]

The battle

Israeli forces entered on 2 April, and had secured the town of Jenin by the second day. Israeli intelligence estimated that half the population of noncombatants had left before they arrived, and 90% had done so by the third day, leaving around 1,300 people.[1] The EU's contribution to the UN report said "at least 4,000 remained inside and did not evacuate the camp."[14]

Palestinian militants had expected an air strike since their security forces' barracks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank had been repeatedly bombed by an Israeli military that didn't want to risk the casualties of Close Quarters Combat.[1] However in Jenin, the IDF chose not to bomb the spots of resistance using aircraft in order to minimize civilian losses,[14] even with the risk of increased losses to infantry,[18] although there was limited use of helicopters.[14][1] This was a very costly decision on behalf of the Israeli forces, which brought the loss of 13 soldiers from the Golani Brigade in an ambush on 9 April.

A leader of Fatah gunmen in the camp told Time that it was only when his forces saw the Israelis advancing on foot that they decided to stay and fight.[1] Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant Tabaat (or Thabet) Mardawi enthusiastically told CNN from his prison in Israel, that after learning the IDF was going to use troops, and not planes, "It was like hunting ... like being given a prize... The Israelis knew that any soldier who went into the camp like that was going to get killed... I've been waiting for a moment like that for years." Mardawi told CNN that Palestinian fighters had spread "between 1000 and 2000 bombs and booby traps" throughout the camp.[18]

An IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer driving along a 1.2 km stretch of the main street to clear booby traps set off 124 explosions.[1]

By the third day, despite previous Israeli assessments, the Palestinians were still dug in, and seven Israeli soldiers had been killed. As the IDF advanced, the Palestinians fell back to the heavily defended camp centre - the Hawashin district.[1] The Israelis began to call in AH-1 Cobra helicopters to hit rooftop positions along with Caterpillar D9 armoured bulldozers to detonate the booby traps and clear a path for tanks.[1]

On the seventh day, 9 April, 13 Israeli soldiers were killed when Palestinian fighters used civilians to lure an Israeli patrol into a booby-trapped ambush, and then opened fire on those retrieving wounded.[17] When another soldier was killed on the camp's edge, it became the deadliest day for the IDF since the end of the 1982 Lebanon War.[1]

Change in Israeli tactics

After the April 9 ambush, the IDF changed tactics, presumably in order to continue the operation without risking more Israeli deaths, and increased to a dozen the Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers in operation. The IDF maintained that the heavy bulldozers were mainly used to clear walls and streets of booby traps, open routes and widen alleyways for armored fighting vehicles, and to secure locations and movement for IDF troops. Time reported that while houses were knocked down by the bulldozers, they could not have buried the amount of people alleged by Palestinians since it takes a half-hour to fully wreck a building, and because Israeli soldiers say they always called any residents to leave in advance. Even if civilians were too frightened to leave initially, they surely would once the D9 started working. A senior Palestinian military officer told Time that the gunmen's own booby traps probably buried some civilians and fighters alive, some of the larger charges capable of more devastation than a D9.[1]

A day later, Mahmoud Tawallbe and two other militants went into a house so as to get close enough to a tank or armoured D-9 bulldozer to plant a bomb. According to a British military expert working in the camp for Amnesty International, a D9 driver probably saw him and rammed a wall down onto him. Tawallbe's name subsequently became familiar in the Arab world.[1]

The D9s led Israeli forces deeper into the camp until on the ninth day, a D9 sliced the wall off a house in the heavily defended Hawashin district, and 39 dazed gunmen surrendered with their hands in the air. Among the militants were Palestinian Islamic Jihad members Tabaat Mardawi and Ali Suleiman al-Saadi, known as Safouri, Israeli targets responsible for a number of attacks and whose incarceration meant the combat would soon end.[1]

According to Time, "It was real urban warfare, as a modern, well-equipped army met an armed and prepared group of guerrilla fighters intimately familiar with the local terrain. For both sides, Jenin has been added to the memories that invest the conflict in the Middle East with such bitterness." A total of 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the street fighting.[1]

Aftermath

Aerial photograph of the area demolished in the Jenin camp's central Hawashin district.

The introduction of the heavily armored bulldozers, which shrugged off explosives and RPGs alike,[19] and the threat of being buried alive, caused the Palestinian militants to surrender. Later, IDF forces withdrew gradually from the refugee camp under international pressure.

After the conflict Israeli reports claim that 8-9% of the houses within the refugee camp were destroyed. This was largely within an area of intense fighting of approximately 100 m by 100 m according to the IDF.[20]. An area within the refugee camp, 100 m by 200 m according to some (up to 400 m by 500 m by other estimates)[21][22] was reported to have been flattened.[23] Reports added that six (globalsecurity.org) or ten (BBC) percent of the camp were destroyed in the fighting.[24][5]

Most of the demolition occurred in the Hawashin neighborhood, where most of the militants and explosives remained. Israel states that it demolished those houses because they were densely rigged with explosives.[17]

In October 2002, according to the Walla news agency, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas websites reported that their forces in Jenin before the Israeli entry included 250 armed militants. The official Kol Yisrael radio station reported that 15,000 explosive charges were at the militants' disposal, as well as a large number of handguns. The militants were well organized and had an extensive system of communications.

Al-Ahram Online interviewed with "Omar the Engineer", a Palestinian bombmaker who claimed that some 50 homes were booby trapped. "We chose old and empty buildings and the houses of men who were wanted by Israel because we knew the soldiers would search for them," he said.[17]

According to Lt. Colonel Adir Haruvi of the IDF, numerous buildings, passages and even bodies were booby-trapped, often prompting Israelis to use armored bulldozers to level numerous buildings.[25] The Israelis also claimed to have found more than a dozen explosive-making labs. [citation needed]

Battle casualties

In the aftermath of the battle, most sources ultimately reported 52-56 Palestinian deaths before the end of Israeli operations. Based on "very limited fact finding," United Nations reported "at least 52" confirmed Palestinian deaths.[14] Human Rights Watch "confirmed that at least fifty-two Palestinians were killed ... This figure may rise".[26] Similarly, the IDF estimate the number at 52. Amnesty International reported 54 Palestinian deaths. No significantly different figures have been confirmed since this time. The HRW and IDF differ over combatant deaths, with the IDF counting 38 "armed men" and the HRW counting 30 "militants." In general, Palestinian officials have spoken of significantly higher unconfirmed deaths,[27] though one Palestinian Fatah official reportedly put the death toll at 56.[28] A few Palestinian deaths were reported subsequent or ancillary to the main battle.[29] The IDF reported that 23 Israeli soldiers were killed.[30] In sum, roughly 75 persons were killed during the battle.

Fluctuations in reported deaths

Initially, reporting of casualty numbers varied widely between sources and fluctuated day to day. Notably, Palestinian initial estimates were of hundreds of casualties while Israeli officials gave estimates as high as 150 deaths. In examples cited in the time line below, figures include both civilians and armed combatants unless otherwise indicated.

  • April 2 - Jenin is cut off and the incursion begin the following day.
  • April 6 - in an Arab League emergency meeting Nabil Shaath, at the time a Palestinian chief negotiator, delivers a speech in which he claims the IDF soldiers were commanded to completely destroy Jenin and compares Israeli actions in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Nablus to the Sabra and Shatila Massacre.[31]
  • April 7 - Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian minister and chief Palestinian negotiator is quoted in the Washington Times making the first allegation of a massacre made in a Western media publication.[31]
  • NBC News hears from Secretary-General of the Palestinian Authority Abdel Rahman that "over 250 Palestinians killed".[31]
  • April 9 - The influential[32] Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reports more than 100 Palestinians have already been killed in fighting with IDF forces, and somebody who is very worried about world opinion once details emerge about Jenin is Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Privately, Peres used the word "massacre" when he referred to the battle taking place. Ha'aretz wrote that grave reservations have been voiced by IDF officers on Monday over the operation in Jenin. "Because of the dangers," they said, "the soldiers are almost not advancing on foot. The bulldozers are simply 'shaving' the homes and causing terrible destruction. When the world sees the pictures of what we have done there, it will do us immense damage. However many wanted men we kill in the refugee camp, and however much of the terror infrastructure we expose and destroy there, there is still no justification for causing such great destruction." [33]
  • April 10 - BBC reports that Israel estimates 150 Palestinians died in Jenin but Palestinians say the number is far higher.[34]
  • Saeb Erekat on a phone interview to CNN from Jericho, estimates 500 dead in the whole Israeli offensive and states that the Jenin refuge camp no longer exists and that reports of executions are coming from there.[35] Israelis gave their response a short time later saying that it is a fabrication and a lie.[36]
  • April 11 - negotiated surrender of 34 Palestinian militants.[4] Palestinians are reporting 500 dead.[37]
  • April 12 - Fighting ends
  • IDF Brigadier-General Ron Kitrey said on Israeli Army Radio that there are apparently hundreds killed, the IDF quickly clarified he meant hundreds of casualties (killed or injured).[38] Secretary-General of Palestinian Authority Ahmed Abdel Rahman alleged, according to United Press International as a reaction to Kitrey's initial comments, that thousands of Palestinians were either killed and buried in massive graveyards or smashed under houses destroyed in Jenin and Nablus. He claimed that the Israelis took hundreds of bodies to northern Israel to hide a massacre and added that, "This massacre is not less than the massacres committed against the Palestinian people in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon"[39] Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Emmanuel Nahshon, said he did not believe thousands of people were killed and added that "in places where there are battles, people get killed".
  • April 13 - Palestinian Information Minister, Yasser Abed Rabbo, accuses Israel of digging mass graves for 900 Palestinians in the camp, half of them women and children.[40]
  • April 14-15 - After IDF reportedly estimate 188 Palestinians were killed[41] and one spokesperson estimated the number at 250[42], a final figure of 45 is given.
  • April 15 - When asked by Wolf Blitzer, in a CNN interview, about the accusations that the Israeli troops committed a massacre at the Jenin camp, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, replied that that there are very hard battles in the camp, and noted to Blitzer that, while "you already know that this story is a lie.", he is still using the 'massacre' term.[43]
  • Palestinian Cabinet Minister (also PA Acting Prime Minister in 2005) Nabil Shaath, in a Palestinian reaction to the interview with Sharon, accused the Israeli Prime Minister for resembling Milosevic and claimed it is a second Sabra and Shatila by him. Shaath added that the actual death toll is unknown because, "already a lot of the bodies have been snatched and buried elsewhere in unidentified graves that we learned about during the Jenin massacre." and added an allegation that Sharon "took six days to perpetrate the massacre and six days for a cover-up.".[43]
  • On this date, the first observers were allowed into the camp.[43][22]
  • April 18 - Zalmon Shoval, adviser to Prime Minister Sharon, defended Israel's actions, saying it was fighting for its life; estimating that only about 65 bodies had been recovered, of which five were civilians.[44]
  • April 30 - Qadoura Mousa, the director of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement for the northern West Bank set the total dead at 56 after a team of four Palestinian-appointed investigators reported to him in his Jenin office.[10]
  • Considering the Palestinian body count the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, suggested that he may disband the U.N. fact-finding team supposed to determine whether a massacre had taken place.

Allegations of a massacre

The battle attracted widespread international attention due to Palestinian allegations that a massacre had been committed and due to inflated reports on body counts by Palestinian officials and Jenin residents.[45] Journalists and international groups were banned by the IDF from entering the camp during the fighting on safety grounds, and at one point the IDF itself reported casualties as high as 250,[46][7] [47][48][49] yet many journalists reported that a massacre of Palestinian civilians may have taken place during the fighting,[50][6][44] and unconfirmed "eyewitness" claims that hundreds, or even thousands, of bodies had been secretly buried in mass graves by the IDF were spread.[6][51][52][53][45] These allegations were aired widely in the Arab world and European media (most prominently in the British media), inciting extreme antipathy toward Israel.[6][52] Critics in conservative American publications responded by alleging a "Big Jenin Lie".[54][55]

According to the Anti-Defamation League, International organizations, non-governmental organizations, and many foreign governments prematurely attacked Israel for committing atrocities during its military operations and before the facts were in. But while a massacre of hundreds was alleged, reported and condemned, the ADL claims that it is now essentially certain that no such massacre occurred.[56]

Many Arabs and Palestinians continue to use the term "Jenin Massacre" (Arabic: مجزرة جنين).

Amnesty International

In an interview with BBC News, Derek Holley, a military advisor to Amnesty International, corroborated that there was no massacre:

"Talking to people and talking to witnesses, even very credible witnesses, it just appears there was no wholesale killing."[57]

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch found no evidence of a massacre and criticized Palestinian militants for having endangered the lives of Palestinian civilians in part by "intermingling" with them, but added:

"However, many of the civilian deaths documented by Human Rights Watch amounted to unlawful or willful killings by the IDF. Many others could have been avoided if the IDF had taken proper precautions to protect civilian life during its military operation, as required by international humanitarian law."

Time Magazine

In an article about the battle in Jenin, Time ruled out Palestinian allegations of massacre, writing that [1]:

"A Time investigation concludes that there was no wanton massacre in Jenin, no deliberate slaughter of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers. But the 12 days of fighting took a severe toll on the camp."

United Nations

The UN report confirmed a body count of 52 Palestinians, up to half of them civilians, and found earlier claims of hundreds of deaths to be unsubstantiated. These findings were widely reported and interpreted as rejecting claims of a "massacre." [58][59][60][14].

U.S. Secretary of State

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Jenin during the month of the battle, and upon returning to the States testified to a congressional panel that there was no evidence of mass graves or a massacre.[61]

International statements and human rights reports

In late April and on May 3, 2002, the UN, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released reports about the Israeli military incursions into Jenin. The reports documented that approximately 30 Palestinian militants, 22 Palestinian civilians, and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting and thus found no evidence to sustain claims that a massacre took place. However, HRW did say that Israel "committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting prima facie to war crimes,"[62] while Amnesty International similarly alleged evidence that Israel had committed war crimes.

The Anti-Defamation League questioned how HRW and AI could both acknowledge the lack of a supposed Israeli massacre and the endangerment of Palestinian civilians by Palestinian gunmen and still maintain its accusation of Israel, and labelled the reports prejudiced.[63]

United Nations efforts

The United Nations attempted an unsuccessful visiting mission, disbanded a fact finding mission, and ultimately issued a report based on its limited findings.

The United Nations visiting mission ordered by the UN Commission on Human Rights on 5 April 2002 and headed by Mary Robinson, ex-President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was refused entry to Israel. A similar fate awaited the UN fact finding mission:

UN fact finding mission

The United Nations Security Council unanimously proposed a fact finding mission with resolution 1405 on April 19, 2002.

While formally agreeing to co-operate with the inquiry, the government of Israel set a list of preconditions, three being most important to them:

  • That the mission should include anti-terrorism experts. Derek Holley, an Amnesty International military advisor went public saying that this was necessary in a report posted by the BBC.[64]
  • That the UN agree not to prosecute Israeli soldiers for any violations of international law which might be uncovered during by the mission.
  • And that the mission limit its scope exclusively to events in Jenin.

These conditions were justified by the Israeli government's legal experts[who?] on the grounds that "the conditions under which the UN proposed the mission were unfair, as the UN did not agree to give the anti-terrorism expert full membership, would not give the mission a strict mandate, nor declare the mission solely investigatory (as opposed to having a judicial purpose)". According to the Israeli legal experts, all three positions violate of the UN's own principles (as stated in the "Declaration on Fact-finding by the United Nations", A/RES/46/59 of December 9, 1991).

The UN refused to accept the last two conditions, whereupon the Israeli authorities announced that they would not allow the mission entry into any Israeli-controlled territory, nor cooperate with its activities in any way. Some commentators ascribed this to an agreement with Bush, who on 18th April told the world's press that Sharon "gave me a timetable and he’s met the timetable."[65]

On the May 3 2002, UN Secretary General Kofi Anan announced that he was disbanding the fact-finding mission.

On the May 7 2002, the UN General Assembly passed[66], condemning both the Israeli operations and Israel's refusal to cooperate with the fact-finding team. At the same time, the UN issued a press release[67] repeating the points made and including statements made by the representatives of individual nations. The GA requested the Secretary-General to present a report, drawing upon available resources and information.

UN report

The UN report stated that fifty-two Palestinian deaths had been confirmed by the end of May 2002, which mirrored the IDF report, and found earlier claims of hundreds of deaths to be unsubstantiated. These findings were widely reported and interpreted as rejecting claims of a "massacre."[68][69][70][14].

The report explains the rising violence of the first two years of the al-Aqsa Intifada, with particular reference to the suicide bombings that had been carried out. It describes all the operations carried out in the West Bank.

On the subject of Jenin, it says the "IDF urged civilians in Arabic to evacuate the camp. Some reports, including of interviews with IDF soldiers, suggest that those warnings were not adequate ..... Estimates vary on how many civilians remained in the camp throughout but there may have been as many as 4,000."

The UN report confirmed that "at least 52 Palestinians" deaths were reported by the Jenin hospital by the end of May 2002 and that Palestinian reports of 500 dead had not been substantiated.

Following the ambush of April 9 the IDF changed tactics and began bombardment with tanks and missiles, and demolished parts of the camp using armoured bulldozers. The report says "Witness testimonies and human rights investigations allege that the destruction was both disproportionate and indiscriminate, some houses coming under attack from the bulldozers before their inhabitants had the opportunity to evacuate."

According to the report, supplies of food and water were delivered to the camp starting on April 16th but this was impeded by the large amounts of explosives present. Negotiations began to bring in specialist equipment and workers to remove the explosives, but in the several weeks it took to negotiate the entry of these teams, at least two Palestinians were killed in explosions.

Criticism of the UN report

Human Rights Watch criticized the UN investigation for presenting a "watered-down account of the very serious violations in Jenin," for presenting "competing" claims while drawing "almost no conclusions on the merits of those claims," and for failing to address the "issue of accountability for serious violations that may have been committed, some of which rise to the level of war crimes".[71]

Human Rights Watch also criticized the report as being "flawed" due to a lack of first-hand evidence.[72] The report itself states that a fact-finding team led by Martti Ahtisaari was unable to visit the area as planned due to concerns of the Israeli government, which meant that the report had to rely on papers submitted by different nations and NGOs, and other documents. [14]

Human Rights Watch report

See also: Criticism of Human Rights Watch § Battle of Jenin

While the Human Rights Watch report found "no evidence to sustain claims of massacres or large-scale extrajudicial executions by the IDF," it documented instances of unlawful or willful killing by the IDF, some of which could have been avoided if proper procedures were followed, as well as instances of summary executions. It also documented use of Palestinians as 'human shields', by the IDF, and prevention of humanitarian organizations from accessing the camp despite the great need. The report concluded:

Israeli forces committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting prima facie to war crimes. Human Rights Watch found no evidence to sustain claims of massacres or large-scale extrajudicial executions by the IDF in Jenin refugee camp. Ultimately, Human Rights Watch verified the deaths of at least 52 Palestinians, of whom it concluded that at least 27 were suspected to be armed combatants, and at least 22 were civilians.[73]

While focusing mainly on the actions of the IDF, the report also stated that:

Palestinian gunmen did endanger Palestinian civilians in the camp by using it as a base for planning and launching attacks, using indiscriminate tactics such as planting improvised explosive devices within the camp, and intermingling with the civilian population during armed conflict, and, in some cases, to avoid apprehension by Israeli forces.

The report notes that:

The presence of armed Palestinian militants inside Jenin refugee camp, and the preparations made by those armed Palestinian militants in anticipation of the IDF incursion, does not detract from the IDF's obligation under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians ... Unfortunately, these obligations were not met.

Amnesty International

Amnesty International's report on Jenin and Nablus was issued on November 4, 2002. While the Amnesty report did not allege that a massacre had occurred, the report asserts that war crimes were committed by Israel. Specifically, the reports states that unlawful killings occurred; there was a failure to ensure medical or humanitarian relief; demolition of houses and property occurred; water and electricity supplies to civilians were cut; torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in arbitrary detention occurred; and Palestinians civilians were used for military operations or as "human shields."[74]

In addition, the Amnesty report charges that some civilians were not warned before their houses were demolished and hence they were buried in the rubble. Israel strongly denies these charges. The IDF claims that it broadcast calls to evacuate, but many residents said that they had not heard or understood the call.

Amnesty International acknowledged Israel's "right and responsibility to take measures to prevent unlawful violence," while reiterating its obligations to comply with international humanitarian law in doing so.

Amnesty research included reviewing Israeli High Court cases and examining medical records, statements, and video documentation. Delegates conducted numerous interviews. Testimony and other evidence were cross-checked for accuracy. In many cases, Israel did not cooperate with Amnesty, and did not respond to inquiries about fighting in Jenin. Amnesty also says that much of the destruction took place after April 11, 2002, the date it argues combat died down.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 'The Battle of Jenin' by Matt Rees, May 13, 2002 (TIME), Also 'Untangling Jenin's Tale'
  2. ^ Passover Massacre: Passover suicide bombing at Park Hotel in Netanya March 27, 2002
  3. ^ a b Statements by Israeli PM Sharon and DM Ben-Eliezer 29 Mar 2002
  4. ^ Apr 2002 Jenin's Terrorist Infrastructure 4 Apr 2002 (Communicated by the IDF Spokesman)
  5. ^ a b c 'Jenin rises from the dirt' by Ken Lee (BBC News)
  6. ^ a b c d e 'Urban Warfare and the Lessons of Jenin' by Yagil Henkin (Azure magazine)
  7. ^ a b 'Ten-day ordeal in crucible of Jenin/Eyewitnesses accuse Israel of massacre' by Peter Beaumont (The Observer)
  8. ^ 'The Battle of Jenin: A Case Study in Israel’s Communications Strategy' (pg. 16) by Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University
  9. ^ CNN.com Transcripts: American Morning
  10. ^ a b c Paul Martin (2002-05-01). "Jenin `massacre´ reduced to death toll of 56" (Reprint). PAGE ONE. The Washington Times. p. 01. Retrieved 2007-09-17.
    Archived from Washington Times site; as retrieved from [1][2]
  11. ^ CIVILIAN CASUALTIES AND UNLAWFUL KILLINGS IN JENIN by HRW
  12. ^ "تقرير الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة عن مجزرة جني". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  13. ^ Blett, Barbara (Reporter) (2002-02-28). Israel strikes inside refugee camps (RealVideo). BBC. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j UN Report on Jenin
  15. ^ Jenin: The Capital of the Palestinian Suicide Terrorists (according to Fatah)
  16. ^ Suicide Bombers from Jenin
  17. ^ a b c d The 'engineer'
  18. ^ a b Palestinian fighter describes 'hard fight' in Jenin
  19. ^ CNN.com - Palestinian fighter describes 'hard fight' in Jenin - April 23, 2002
  20. ^ Aerial Photographs of Jenin
  21. ^ David Blair (2002-04-17). "Blasted to rubble by the Israelis". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
  22. ^ a b c "Israel and the Occupied Territories Shielded from scrutiny: IDF violations in Jenin and Nablus". Amnesty International. 2002-11-04. Retrieved 2007-09-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ Expert weighs up Jenin 'massacre'. BBC News, 29 April 2002
  24. ^ 'Jenin, Palestine - 32°27'39"N 35°17'20"E/IDF aerial imagery the Jenin Refugee Camp' (globalsecurity.org)
  25. ^ memo63
  26. ^ HRW Summary on hrw.org
  27. ^ For example, see UN report noting initial PA estimates of about 500 and subsequent reports, e.g. May 2, 2002, of more than 200 deaths.
  28. ^ 'Jenin "massacre" reduced to death toll of 56' by Paul Martin, Washington Times (host site)
  29. ^ For instance, bomb-disposal teams refused entry for 'several weeks' in which time at least two Palestinians were accidentally killed from unexploded ordnance, according to information submitted in the UN report.
  30. ^ BBC: UN says no massacre in Jenin
  31. ^ a b c 'BACKGROUNDER: A Study in Palestinian Duplicity and Media Indifference' by Yehuda Kraut (CAMERA)
    * April 6, 'Arabs set terms for meeting with Powell' by Deutsche Presse-Agentur
    * April 7, 'Israel warns Lebanon, Syria they risk a new border war' by Betsy Pisik, Washington Times (source)
  32. ^ {{cite journal |last=Beckerman |first=Gal |year=2005 |month=September/October |title=Disengaged |journal=Columbia Journalism Review |url=http://cjrarchives.org/issues/2005/5/beckerman.asp |“Despite its lower circulation — about eighty thousand daily compared to six hundred thousand for Yedioth Ahronoth and four hundred thousand for Maariv — Haaretz’s news and editorial pages have serious impact. No one in the power elite can afford to ignore its daily, unsigned editorial.” |Access date: 9/14/08
  33. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=150051%7CPeres calls IDF operation in Jenin a 'massacre'
  34. ^ BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Israeli pull-out on hold after bombing
  35. ^ 'CNN Transcripts: Colin Powell's Challenge' (April 10, 2002)
  36. ^ 'CNN Transcripts: Another Suicide Bombing on West Bank' (April 10, 2002)
  37. ^ CNN: Access to Jenin difficult/Palestinians are reporting 500 dead
  38. ^ News - Telegraph
  39. ^ Palestinians: Hundreds in Mass Graves
  40. ^ Jenin refugee camp emerges defeated, sabcnews.com
  41. ^ Shuman, Ellis and israelinsider staff (2002-04-14). "Security: IDF now estimates 45 Palestinians died in Jenin fighting". Israelinsider. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
  42. ^ Evidence and reality collide in a battle of words - smh.com.au
  43. ^ a b c CNN Transcripts: 'Interview With Ariel Sharon; New Osama bin Laden Video Released/Palestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Sha'ath with a reaction'
  44. ^ a b Jenin 'massacre evidence growing' 18 April, 2002 (BBC)
  45. ^ a b 'Hundreds of victims 'were buried by bulldozer in mass grave'/Daud, a claimed witness, testifies.' (Telegraph.co.uk)
  46. ^ CNN.com - Powell postpones meeting with Arafat, April 12, 2002: "Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said earlier this week that 500 Palestinians had been killed in Jenin and Nablus alone", "'A real massacre was committed in the Jenin refugee camp,' Erakat said"
  47. ^ Sydney Morning Herald: Evidence and reality collide in a battle of words (16 April 2002): "First the Israelis talked of scores and then there were dozens. Early yesterday an IDF spokesman said the figure was likely to be "several hundred" dead Palestinians and 23 dead Israelis. Another spokesman put the estimate at a precise 250 Palestinians dead, but by last night the IDF count of dead Palestinians had been wound back significantly to 45."
  48. ^ The New Republic Online: Bad Information, the Lesson of Jenin, by Jacob Dallal: "Worse still, the IDF was releasing what turned out to be erroneous, highly inflated estimates of Palestinian casualties ... guessed at by field commanders based on the intensity of the fighting. While our office was saying around 150 Palestinians were killed, I heard very senior generals say up to 200, and the press quoted defense officials with numbers ranging as high as 250. These estimates made the Palestinian claims of 500 dead seem reasonable."
    Archived from The New Republic: as retrieved from [3]
  49. ^ Guardian Unlimited: Jerusalem suicide bomber kills at least six (12 April 2002): "The [Israeli] army's chief spokesman, Brigadier General Ron Kitrey, told Army Radio that there were 'apparently hundreds of dead' ... But the Israel defence forces later issued a statement that it 'wished to clarify that comments made this morning regarding Jenin refer to casualties - those killed and wounded'."
  50. ^ CNN: Access to Jenin difficult/Palestinians are reporting 500 dead
  51. ^ CNN Transcripts: Fierce Fighting Continues in Jenin/Stories of mass graves
  52. ^ a b 'Arabs seize 'Jenin' as rallying cry' by Philip Smucker, April 17, 2002 (Christian Science Monitor)
  53. ^ "Evidence and reality collide in a battle of words/43-year-old Muiassar Abu Ali interview". Sydney Morning Herald. 2002-04-16. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  54. ^ 'Jeningrad - What the British Media said' by Tom Gross (nationalreview.com)
  55. ^ 'Middle East Media Distortion - British/European Media Bias and Jenin' by Mark Silverberg June 20, 2002 (jfednepa.org)
  56. ^ http://www.adl.org/Israel/jenin/jenin.pdf (page 38)
  57. ^ "Expert weighs up Jenin 'massacre'", BBC News, April 29, 2002. Accessed July 24, 2008.
  58. ^ "UN says no massacre in Jenin". BBC. 2002-08-01.
  59. ^ "U.N. report: No massacre in Jenin". USA Today. 2002-08-01.
  60. ^ "DEATH ON THE CAMPUS: JENIN; U.N. Report Rejects Claims Of a Massacre Of Refugees". New York Times. 2002-08-02.
  61. ^ Colin US Secretary of State Powell: I've seen no evidence that would suggest a massacre took place.
  62. ^ Jenin: IDF Military Operations
  63. ^ Anatomy of Anti-Israel Incitement: Jenin,Anti-Defamation League
  64. ^ Expert weighs up Jenin 'massacre'
  65. ^ - Jenin camp 'horrific beyond belief'. Retrieved 9th August 2007.
  66. ^ http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/377/00/PDF/N0237700.pdf?OpenElement .resolution ES-10/10
  67. ^ General Assembly Condemns Assaults Against Palestinians By Israeli Occupying Forces, Refusal To Cooperate With Fact-Finding Team
  68. ^ "UN says no massacre in Jenin". BBC. 2002-08-01.
  69. ^ "U.N. report: No massacre in Jenin". USA Today. 2002-08-01.
  70. ^ "DEATH ON THE CAMPUS: JENIN; U.N. Report Rejects Claims Of a Massacre Of Refugees". New York Times. 2002-08-02.
  71. ^ "U.N. Jenin Report." Human Rights Watch. New York: August 2, 2002.
  72. ^ U.N. Jenin Report (Human Rights Watch, 2-8-2002)
  73. ^ Jenin: IDF Military Operations
  74. ^ "Rights group accuses Israel of war crimes", San Francisco Chronicle, via The Washington Post, November 4, 2002. Accessed August 3], 2008.

External links

UN, international, human rights, PA and IDF reports

Press reports, opinions and articles about Jenin battle

Articles from The Observer and The Guardian

Articles from the BBC

Articles from Ha'aretz

Published personal accounts

The books below present contrasting Israeli and Arab views of the battle. Each is a collection of personal anecdotes, based on the authors' interviews with eyewitnesses / participants:

Israeli Accounts

  • Goldberg, Brett (2003). A Psalm in Jenin. Israel: Modan Publishing House [5]. p. 304. ISBN 965-7141-03-6. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help) is a sketch of the experiences of several Israeli soldiers who participated in the battle (either as combatants or auxiliaries such as field medics), based on their accounts and/or accounts of families and friends, in the case of soldiers who fell in the battle.

Arab Accounts

Related issues to Jenin battle

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