Richnorth:
Off Topic: Massacre At Jenin?
I would be interested in your reaction to the following article:
Massacre At Jenin?
by Jack Kinsella
A threatened United States veto was the only reason the UN passed a resolution calling for an 'inquiry into Israel’s conduct at Jenin’ rather than an ‘investigation' into the 'Massacre at Jenin', as Kofi Annan and the UN’s Arab power bloc wanted to word it.
Why a Massacre?
Why is everybody so convinced Israel perpetrated a massacre on the Palestinians? The confirmed body count is [so far] below initial Israeli estimates and far below Palestinian estimates. Of the bodies found, almost all were armed combatants. But the world seems to expect a massacre, wants to find a massacre and will find one even if they have to add the fighters to the toll. They’ve concluded there must be a war crime in there somewhere.
From the Palestinian Perspective
Those Palestinians [albeit few] who were not in some way involved with the terrorist cells in Jenin suffered grievously. They have been utterly devastated by the Israeli tanks, the bulldozers and the gunfire.
Over the last few days, I’ve been trying to see things from the Palestinian side – trying to see whatever it is the rest of the world sees that makes it so eager to find a Sharon massacre that it is utterly unable to see Arafat’s terrorism.
The Jenin Refugee Camp
The main thrust of Israel’s attack was on the UN-administered refugee camp in Jenin. If I were a Palestinian living in that camp when the Israelis attacked, I like to think I’d ask myself some questions. The classic who, what, where, when, why and how series would do.
Who
Who are the Israelis attacking? Do they have a target? Or are they simply killing Palestinians for the sheer fun of it? 'Who?' is a significant question to be addressed if there is to be any understanding of the other questions. If I were a Palestinian living in Jenin, I would ask myself who brought this calamity upon my head?
Since I’d know that it was a response to terror attacks against Israel, whom would I blame for the attack? If I thought it through, looked at the cause and effect, I would find it hard not to hold the terrorists who hid in my neighborhood responsible.
What
What did Israel do while it was in Jenin? If I were a Palestinian eyewitness, I’d know. I’d know if Israel lined people up and shot them. I’d also be able to tell you who they were and where they were killed.
If there were a massacre, I’d find a reporter [there are hundreds of them] and I’d name names. If I were a Palestinian eyewitness, I’d line up with all the other victims [like they did in New York] with pictures of my missing loved ones.
If there are five hundred people missing in a refugee camp of 14,000, it seems incomprehensible that nobody can figure out who was massacred. You can be sure both the Israelis and the Palestinians [as well as the UN] have a comprehensive list of who they issued identity cards to in Jenin.
Where
Where was the attack centered? If I were a Palestinian who’d lived my life in a refugee camp a third the size of Central Park, I’d probably know where the terrorists were keeping the weapons, bomb factories and what neighborhoods would be likely targets. If those bomb factories were located near my family home, who would I blame? Israel? -- or the people who put my family in harm’s way?
When
When did Israel attack? If I were a Palestinian living in Jenin, I’d know that the majority of the human bombs striking civilian targets in Israel were coming from my hometown. I’d know that Israel didn’t launch an all out assault after the first bombing, or after the tenth. I’d know that Israel didn’t decide to destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Jenin until after they gave Chairman Arafat time to dismantle it peacefully.
Why
If I were a Palestinian living in a UN-run refugee camp in Jenin, in an area controlled by Yasser Arafat since 1993, the first ‘why’ question I would ask is, “WHY IS THERE A PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMP CALLED JENIN IN THE MIDDLE OF ARAFAT’S JURISDICTION IN THE FIRST PLACE? The international community has donated billions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority over the last ten years.
Why is there Palestinian ‘refugee’ camp inside Arafat’s borders? Jordan, Lebanon and Syria all dumped their Arab brothers into squalid refugee camps, but they could always say that they are Palestinians and not their problem.
But a Palestinian refugee camp, administered by the United Nations, existing in the heart of what would be a Palestinian state [if Arafat would agree to one] ten years after Oslo would have me demanding an answer to the question “Why”? Who would I ask? Not Israel. Why would I? It isn’t being administered by Israel. It’s being administered by the United Nations. It isn’t under Israel’s control. It’s part of the Palestinian Authority.
How
Finally, I’d ask myself; How did it come to this? Eleven years ago, a Palestinian state was unthinkable; only one year later, the Oslo Agreement granted the Palestinian Authority local autonomy and turned things over to Arafat to run. Ten years later, the only obstacle to realizing the dream of Palestinian statehood is Yasser Arafat.
After Oslo, Arafat and his cronies ended up living in villas overlooking the Med, but Jenin remained a squalid refugee camp.
Ten years later, Jenin is still a refugee camp. Keeping it under UN authority made it a perfect place for terrorists to set up shop.
Assessment:
If I were a Palestinian eyewitness to the events in Jenin, I’d have many questions. If I were honestly looking for answers to those questions, I’d need look no further than Yasser Arafat.
None of those questions seem to be important enough to interest the global press corps. They have all the answers they want. They are just seeking the appropriate questions to ask to put the preferred answers into the public record. For example, the answer is 'yes'. The question is, “did the Israelis go too far?”
The rest are just details.
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Setting the record straight,
Eclectus |
