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Politics : Proof that John Kerry is Unfit for Command -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorne who wrote (15806)	10/5/2004 12:09:01 PM
From: cirrus	Respond to of 27181

follow up article... Rescue worker Wahel Ghabayen, 38, says he is the man seen running in an IDF video allegedly showing terrorists using a UN ambulance to transport a Kassam rocket. Speaking to reporters at a UN press conference in Gaza City, Ghabayen said he had run with a stretcher, not a rocket, to a school in Jabalya on Friday after he heard that someone there may have been wounded. The wounded boy had already been moved by the time he arrived, he said. "I came back to the car with the stretcher, and I folded it and threw it inside the car," he said. "If it was a missile, I would not throw it into the car but would put it in carefully." The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is demanding that Israel apologize for making false accusations against it. "We want an apology from the Israelis, because we didn't commit any wrongdoing," said Lionel Brisson, UNRWA director of operations. UN workers do not carry weapons or armed militants in the agency's vehicles, he added. Still Israel has been concerned for the last four years that terrorists take advantage of the UNRWA facilities and vehicles, knowing they are not likely to be subject to checks by security forces and are often permitted unrestricted movement. A security official said there is no doubt that a Kassam rocket was placed in the vehicle. "If there are any doubts, they relate to the vehicle and whether it was indeed an authentic UN vehicle or whether the terrorists disguised a vehicle to evade being spotted by the army," he said. Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman told The Jerusalem Post he plans to show the video to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday morning. "I will present him with a very stern letter in which we demand that the United Nations carry out a really thorough investigation into this very serious incident. We believe that it is in the interest of the UN, maybe more than anyone else to look into the matter and to see if these very serious allegations are true," he said. "I am going to demand of the secretary-general that a committee of inquiry look at all aspects [of the incident], including the very unfortunate record of [UNRWA head] Peter Hansen. His pattern of activity is very worrisome not just for us but for the UN's integrity and reputation." Hansen, in an interview with Channel 1, said he wasn't worried about Gillerman's meeting with Annan. "What I am worried about is that such serious allegations are made on such a flimsy basis," he said, adding that the charges amounted to incitement against UNRWA. In a press release he added, "I am concerned that such false allegations can lead to increased aggressive behavior by Israelis towards the United Nations in general and UN humanitarian staff in particular, and therefore seriously increase the risks which UN personnel face in this zone. "Given the gravity of the allegation, I immediately ordered my staff to obtain a copy of the footage in question and initiated an investigation into the alleged facts. "I have now seen the footage in question. I can confirm it shows one of UNRWA's ambulances. It then shows three persons walking swiftly towards it. One of these persons is carrying in one hand a light, long, and thin object. The person then easily throws the object into the back of the ambulance. "While the quality of the video clip is poor, its analysis shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that the object carried and thrown into the vehicle is not/cannot be a Kassam rocket: I have been told that a Kassam rocket weighs at least 32 kilograms and that its diameter is approximately 17 cm.," wrote Hansen. He added that the object in the video is much thinner and lighter. jpost.com