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Eli
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Israel
Jul 2000
time: 07:21
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Posting for Siro.
quote:
UN report rejects claims of Jenin massacre
Staff and agencies
Thursday August 1, 2002
A UN report into the fighting in the Jenin refugee camp will reject Palestinian claims of an Israeli massacre, but will criticise both sides for putting civilian lives at risks, western diplomats said today.
The violence in the camp came during an Israeli offensive in the West Bank, launched after a suicide bomb attack that killed 29 Israelis.
The Jenin incursion, which began in early April, was the heaviest fighting in Israel's six-week campaign that began on March 29 this year. The Israeli army lost 23 soldiers in the camp and, in the weeks after the battle, the Palestinian cabinet minister, Saeb Erekat, said that 500 people had been killed.
The UN report, prepared by the secretary general, Kofi Annan, after Israel refused a fact-finding mission access to the camp, said 52 Palestinian deaths had been confirmed by April 18, and that up to half may have been civilians.
It called the Palestinian allegation "a figure that has not been substantiated in the light of evidence that has emerged", the diplomats said.
Israel, which had repeatedly denied any massacre took place, praised the report. It had previously claimed that 22 Palestinian gunmen were killed in the fighting.
"Israel welcomes this finding, as well as the determination that the armed Palestinians deliberately took up position in a densely populated locality," a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, Jonathan Peled, said.
The Palestinian planning minister, Nabil Shaath, called the report an "important step" but criticised Israel's earlier refusal to cooperate with the UN.
"I know it does not satisfy everybody and that it was not done in the way it should be, which is sending a commission to Jenin," he said.
The report also looks into attacks on Palestinian cities by the Israeli army during the campaign.
It says that 497 Palestinians were killed during Israel's incursion into the West Bank, according to the diplomats, almost double the death toll of 262 reported by the Red Crescent Society in the Palestinian territories for the same period.
Israel is also accused of increasing the suffering of Palestinian civilians by imposing curfews, closing off cities and delaying access to medical care and humanitarian aid.
Palestinian militants are charged with deliberately putting their fighters and equipment in civilian areas in violation of international law.
The report is based on information from UN officials, the Palestinians, five UN member states, private relief organisations and documents in the public domain.
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Toasty
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Yeah, sure, Isreal will cooperate with the UN...
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Eli
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Israel
Jul 2000
time: 07:21
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quote:
But I thought the UN was an Evil Anti-Semitic Arab Lackey, who is not to be trusted?
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And even they agree with Israel.
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Jon Miller
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since when is 500 deaths a massacre when there was fighting
Jon Miller
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Jon Miller
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If the US did it I would expect higher numbers, those are really low
Jon Miller
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02-08-2002 01:04
. Noone ever said that , Jaakko.
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