>>U.S. envoy Burns calls Jenin refugee camp a 'terrible tragedy'
JENIN - A U.S. Middle East envoy toured the ruins of Jenin
refugee camp on Saturday after an Israeli army pullback, saying enormous suffering had
been visited on Palestinian civilians there.
"I just think what we are seeing here is a terrible human tragedy," William Burns,
assistant-secretary of state for the Near East, said in the camp's central square.
"It's obvious that what happened here in the Jenin camp has caused enormous human
suffering for thousands of Palestinian civilians," said Burns, the most senior U.S. official to
visit the camp since Israeli forces pulled out on Friday.
Burns called for aid agencies to be granted free access to the camp. He would not
comment on Palestinian accusations that troops had committed a massacre in what Israel
has called a "hornet's nest of terrorists" and the launch-pad for 23 suicide attacks.
"I think it's vitally important, obvious to anyone who can see, to provide full and complete
access to relief agencies so that they can do their work, so that they can get equipment
and supplies here," Burns declared. "It's important that the United Nations is going to
launch a fact-finding mission to try to find exactly what happened here with the
cooperation of Palestinians and Israelis both," he added.
UN envoy denies accusing Israel of massacre in Jenin refugee camp
At a press conference held Friday at the American Colony hotel in East Jerusalem, United
Nations envoy to the Middle East Terje Roed-Larsen said that he had not accused Israel of
carrying out a massacre in the Jenin refugee camp, and that he was not yet in possession
of all the facts regarding what had happened during the IDF military operation in the Jenin
refugee camp.
The envoy Thursday called the scene in the camp "horrifying beyond belief" and
demanded unfettered access by international humanitarian agencies. <<
More at:
haaretzdaily.com
OK, I guess you'll have to add the US envoy to the list of people who are contributing to the "media attack." |
