Posted on 04/12/2002 3:08:36 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Palestinian officials charged Friday that Israeli forces killed hundreds or even thousands of Palestinians and buried the bodies in mass graves in northern Israel. Israeli officials questioned the death toll and said they were returning bodies to families after they were identified "in cooperation with the relevant sources."
Dr. Wael Qadan, Palestinian Red Crescent Society's chief of emergency, told United Press International that he believed more than 200 people were killed in Jenin, but exact figures were not known. Red Cross spokeswoman Aleksandra Matijevic told UPI the agency had no estimates or figures of its own.
Col. Gal Hirsh, head of operations at the Israeli army’s command center, which includes the West Bank, rejected "rumors" that 500 to 600 Palestinians were killed.
'Lies'
"These are lies," he told reporters he told reporters in Jerusalem. Col. Hirsh noted that 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting in Jenin.
"We were fighting against armed terrorists. We asked the Palestinian civilians to evacuate their homes so they would not get hurt. Some chose not to. Most of the Palestinians that were killed were armed terrorists; many had explosive devices strapped to their bodies." The death toll mounted quickly in the two weeks since Israel, in retaliation for a series of suicide bombings, including one in which more than two dozen people were killed at a Seder, started a massive military campaign in Palestinian territories.
That offensive included a siege on the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is still barred from leaving his Ramallah compound, and actions in several West Bank towns and refugee camps, including Jenin. Israel said its forces were trying to destroy the Palestinian militants' infrastructure and the creation of a buffer zone, which involved the razing of dozens of buildings.
Israeli General: 'Hundreds Killed'
Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. Ron Kitrey told Israeli Army Radio on Friday that "there were apparently hundreds of people killed in the Jenin refugee camp." The army quickly issued a "clarification" saying that Kitrey meant to say "casualties - those killed or wounded" rather than just the number of those killed.
But the Palestinians had already reacted to Kitrey's initial comments. Secretary-General of Palestinian Authority Cabinet Ahmed Abdel Rahman said, "They took hundreds of bodies to northern Israeli to hide their massacre they committed against our people.
"This massacre is not less than the massacres committed against the Palestinian people in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon."
He said thousands of Palestinians were either killed and buried in massive graveyards or smashed under houses destroyed in Jenin and Nablus.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said he did not believe thousands of people were killed. "It doesn't sound logical," he told UPI. "The Palestinians chose to take up arms and fight the Israel Defense Forces' soldiers, and in places where there are battles, people get killed."
'Propaganda'
Hirsh dismissed claims that Israel was burying Palestinians in mass graves as "Palestinian propaganda."
"We call upon the Red Cross organization and the Red Crescent organization to assist in identification of the Palestinian bodies and to conduct a proper burial service."
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat called for an inquiry to investigate the killing of hundreds of Palestinians in Jenin and Nablus. However, Israel refused to join the call and said Palestinians were killed in fighting, not massacred by Israeli soldiers.
Bingo. Although at some point the Israelis might get so fed up that they go ahead and do what the rest of the world is already accusing them of. Can't say I'd blame them much...
Well if we don't bomb Israel, it's time to spring Slobodan Milosevic and give him a pension.
Well, not all the time. When they say that they want to annihilate the state of Israel and exterminate all the Jews (in the world), I believe them.
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I was thinking the same.
He's living the life of luxury in Saudi Arabia today. (for real)
Billions! Gazillions!
Not to mention the fact that there isn't an air force in the world that could survive Israel's air defenses. Even the US navy's Top Guns got clobbered over 4 to 1 in wargames with Israel less than three years ago.
I'll give a highest score to Israel AF. But they still may be overwhelmed by numbers if NATO/US will join Arabs in new "humanitarian effort". Like with Yugoslavia...
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