Jenin?


Who Massacred Who?

An investigation published in the Boston Globe (April 29) concludes that Palestinian allegations "that a large-scale massacre of civilians was committed [in Jenin] appear to be crumbling under the weight of eyewitness accounts from Palestinian fighters who participated in the battle and camp residents who remained in their homes."

In interviews with civilians and fighters in Jenin, the Globe says that "none reported seeing large numbers of civilians killed." On the other hand, referring to the deaths of Israeli soldiers in Jenin, Abdel Rahman Sa'adi, a 14-year-old Islamic Jihad grenade-thrower, said "This was a massacre of the Jews, not of us."

The Globe also quotes a spokesman for the Israeli army who says that Palestinians are moving bodies of people not killed in the Jenin fighting into graveyards around the camp "to score points with the UN committee."

Online at:
[link to www.boston.com]



The Palestinian fighters in Jenin spoke of how they booby-trapped the camp elaborately, armed themselves with explosive belts and grenades and enlisted women and children into the battle.

"Believe me, there are children stationed in the houses with explosive belts at their sides."

-Abu Jandal, Islamic Jihad commander

"We have prepared unexpected surprises for the enemy….We have prepared a special graveyard in the Jenin camp for them."

-Ali Safori, Islamic Jihad Al-Quds
Brigades commander

"We had more than 50 houses booby-trapped around the camp. 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."

-"Omar," Islamic Jihad bomb-maker




Photo Manipulation

In a dispatch entitled "Israel Rejects U.N. Jenin Probe," some agencies used a photo showing a body being dragged through the street. There's no caption, so readers would naturally assume the photo is from Jenin -- but in fact it is from Hebron, and depicts an Arab "collaborator" lynched by his fellow Arabs. (info from opinionjournal.com)


Online at:
[link to www.boston.com]

(4) A refreshingly straight article appears in the Globe and Mail (Canada) by Marcus Gee, "What really happened? The myth of Jenin grows" (April 27). Gee writes:

"Only after those deaths did the army send in bulldozers to knock down the booby-trapped buildings where terrorists were hiding, and even then it made frequent announcements by loud-hailer that civilians would be allowed to leave, as some did.

"That is considerably more than Hamas does when it dispatches killers to blow themselves up in Israeli buses, banquet halls and cafes. Yet militant leaders have the gall to blame Israel for attacking non-combatants."

Online at:
[link to www.globeandmail.ca]

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What has become of all the bombs spread throughout the Jenin camp by Palestinians trying to booby-trapped buildings and alleyways?
Since Israel withdrew from Jenin on April 12, Palestinian medical sources reported that 14 camp residents -- among them six children -- have been wounded by explosives going off, with one child dying of his injuries.

Bertrand Bainvel of UNICEF told AFP that Palestinian schoolboys were "digging through the rubble for lost belongings and exposing themselves to dangerous explosives by doing so."

Read more: [link to www.honestreporting.com]