Terrified of Its Own Army Testimonies, Israel Bans UN Jenin Probe Mission

28/04/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: "We Were Told To Entirely Demolish The City"-Israeli Soldier.
Reneging on Its Own Committement to UN, Israel Now Says UN at Fault.
Earlier, Israel Demanded Chosing Witnesses in UN Probe.


STORYAmid reports in the Israeli Press that the Israeli government is terrified from testimonies of its own soldiers that participated in the barbaric attack against the Jenin refugee camp, Tel Aviv Sunday banned the arrival of the UN Jenin Probe mission. (Read photo caption within).

Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin, briefing reporters after a lengthy Cabinet meeting, claimed the United Nations had gone back on its agreements with Israel over the team, and so it would not be allowed to arrive.

Rivlin, speaking for the Cabinet, claimed the composition of the team and its terms of reference made it inevitable that its report would blame Israel.

"This awful United Nations committee is out to get us and is likely to smear Israel and to force us to do things which Israel is not prepared even to hear about, such as interrogating soldiers and officers who took part in the fighting," he said. "No country in the world would agree to such a thing."

Palestinians have objected to Israel's delay of the fact-finding team, insisting that the United Nations send it immediately.

'WE WERE TOLD TO FIRE AT EVERYTHING IN THE CAMP'-ISRAELI SOLDIER

Israel's latest stalling move came amid Israeli press reports that, an Israeli soldier who took part in the Jenin massacres told the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Aharanot's correspondent Ofar Sheilah that the he and his comarades received orders to fire on every window and every house in the camp whether or not there were gunshots from them. The paper quoted its source as saying, "We were clearly instructed to crush them, and to fire on everything in the camp whether or not it attacked us and we didn't give them any chance to leave the camp. We entirely demolished the city," the soldier confessed.

AN ISRAELI REQUEST FOR ANOTHER 24-HOURS DELAY

Earlier, Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the main stumbling block was whether the United Nations or Israel would choose the Israeli witnesses in the probe into the devastating sweep through the Jenin camp, the scene of the most savage part of Israel's brutal military campaign in the West Bank launched on March 29.

"Israel will determine who will testify on its behalf," Peres told Israel Radio. "That is the central point."

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told the United Nations Sunday it would be pointless to send a fact-finding team to Israel now to probe its assault on the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli political sources said.

The sources said Peres delivered the message in a telephone call to Cornelio Sommaruga, a member of the U.N. team waiting in Geneva for the green light to fly to Israel as scheduled on Sunday. Sommaruga, was former head of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The sources said Peres made the call after the Israeli cabinet decided at its weekly meeting Sunday that conditions were "not yet right" for receiving the fact-finding team.

Israel's decision to ban the UN mission appears to confirm reports in the Israeli Press that Sharon's government is terrified of testimonies by its own army.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinians walk in the destroyed Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, April 28, 2002. Israel's cabinet approved a proposal by President Bush that could lead to the lifting of an Israeli siege on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli political sources said. Photo by Mahfouz Abu Turk/Reuters
- Apr 28 10:40 AM