U.N. Report: Jenin Not Massacre

[TheWakeUpBomb]

Who could forget the Israeli massacre of Palestinian civilians at Jenin?

UNITED NATIONS — A U.N. report on Israel's military attack on a Palestinian refugee camp does not back up claims of a massacre, but it does criticize both sides for putting civilians in harm's way, Western diplomats said Wednesday.


The report accuses Israel of delaying aid and medical help to Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp. And it charges Palestinian militants with deliberately putting its fighters and equipment in civilian areas in violation of international law, according to the diplomats.


Oops. I guess we can look forward to retractions from all those leftists out there in a rush to label this a massacre, huh?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,59276,00.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30163-2002Aug1.html

[Dan Loney]

Originally posted by TheWakeUpBomb
Oops. I guess we can look forward to retractions from all those leftists out there in a rush to label this a massacre, huh?Leftists. Great. I've been pissing up a rope all this time, haven't I?

I absolutely refuse to retract what I said about Jenin, I'll tell you that much.

[Father Ted]

Watching the news last night, I did not see one word mentioned about this. I'm sure if it had been the other way round...

[schuer]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2166871.stm


Furthermore this report means bollocks. israel refused acces to all areas that would possibily harm their image. As many say this UN-document adds nothing to earlier reports from independent HR-organisations as Human Right Watch. In their writing it was also stated the number of victims was lower than the palestinians claimed, but they clearly stated Isral commited war crimes (e.g. using Palestinian civilans as human shields).

Meanwhile Amnesty Internation demands a full report because this one is way too partial.

[chad]

Originally posted by schuer
Isral commited war crimes (e.g. using Palestinian civilans as human shields).


that's called a "freudian slip".

[Garcia]

Amnesty International is nobody and don't forget it. Heck, Jesse Jackson has more pull than those jokers and that alone tells you something.

When in high (catholic) school, they always tried to get me to write letters, and when I wrote one for a guy in Texas who was to be executed, I wrote, "I hope you suffer as you die!", they for some reason never asked me to write another. Go figure.

[schuer]

Originally posted by Garcia
When in high (catholic) school, they always tried to get me to write letters, and when I wrote one for a guy in Texas who was to be executed, I wrote, "I hope you suffer as you die!", they for some reason never asked me to write another. Go figure.

You must be soo proud

[Dante]

Originally posted by Garcia
When in high (catholic) school, they always tried to get me to write letters, and when I wrote one for a guy in Texas who was to be executed, I wrote, "I hope you suffer as you die!", they for some reason never asked me to write another. Go figure.

I'm sorry but that is funny. So did the poor bastard deserve his fate?

[JPhurst]

Originally posted by schuer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2166871.stm


Furthermore this report means bollocks. israel refused acces to all areas that would possibily harm their image. As many say this UN-document adds nothing to earlier reports from independent HR-organisations as Human Right Watch. In their writing it was also stated the number of victims was lower than the palestinians claimed, but they clearly stated Isral commited war crimes (e.g. using Palestinian civilans as human shields).

Meanwhile Amnesty Internation demands a full report because this one is way too partial.

AI and Human Rights Watch complaining about the report is pretty silly. Both of them were there and saw the scope of the devastation and had plenty of chances to interview witnesses.

As you point out, AI and HRW didn't come to much of a different conclusion. There was no massacre but the IDF comitted certain war crimes. About the only thing that the UN report adds is that the Palestinian militia did the same. The reason the UN report did not add any more is because there was nothing else to add.

Where's the Human Rights Watch report on the Passover Massacre? For some reason I couldn't find it? What about the UN investigation?

[joseph pakovits]

Both sides have to face the fact that the world will never know what really happened there because of all the Israeli shenanigans and refusals to let objective observers into the area to see for themselves. My own personal opinion is that a "massacre" probably did not happen but I admit that in the aftermath of the initial Jenin news reports the Israeli govt did a REALLY good impersonation of an organization trying to cover something up.

[JPhurst]

Originally posted by joseph pakovits
Both sides have to face the fact that the world will never know what really happened there because of all the Israeli shenanigans and refusals to let objective observers into the area to see for themselves. My own personal opinion is that a "massacre" probably did not happen but I admit that in the aftermath of the initial Jenin news reports the Israeli govt did a REALLY good impersonation of an organization trying to cover something up.

There were very few people, except maybe some journalists, during the battle. But AI, Human Rights Watch, and various humanitarian organizations were there shortly thereafter. A UN mission, even if Israel just opened up its doors without any preconditions (such as not placing someone on the mission who compared the Star of David to a swastika) wouldn't have found anything else.

Will precise details be known? They hardly ever are. But there is very little that falls into the "unknown" category here.

[joseph pakovits]

JPhurst,

Like I said, I personally don't believe in the "massacre".

I do ask you why the Israelis stonewalled for so long even though they probably had nothing to hide. It's not like the UN was going to send only card-carrying members of the Aryan Nation to the scene. In fact, it would have HELPED Israel in PR terms if the UN team was seen to be "anti-semitic" because then any anti-Israel findings could be simply dismissed out of hand.

The Israeli handling of the situation was just not good PR. In fact, it was so bad it was like Sharon took a page out of the "PLO Guide To Influencing World Opinion". Israel has survived and prospered partly because they've been SO much smarter at marshalling world opinion than the Palestinians but lately it seems like they've forgotten how to run a PR campaign.

[Bill Archer]

Somebody call Hell and warn them to stock up on overcoats - I agree 100% with Joe about a Middle East topic.

OF COURSE whatever "commission" the UN sent to investigate would be biased against them. Doesn't that go without saying?

What they missed, IMO, is that it JUST DIDN'T MATTER. The conclusions they drew weren't going to change anybody's mind anyway.

If the report said that Israel was a pure as the driven snow, would the Arab world have accepted that and sued for peace?

If the report said Israel was guilty of mass murder, would anyone in the West (particularly the US) have paid a bit of attention?

The point being that no one's mind was going to be changed anyway, but Israel managed to turn it into a disadvantage by "stonewalling" as Joe puts it. Refusing to allow an investigation, in Western eys, is tantamount to admitting guilt.

They have always had a keen ear for Western opinon. It's probably a sign of their growing frustration, desperation and even panic that that ear is apparently turning to tin.