An Jene Camp there are no ruins of houses . Everything has been turned into
Dust . After the houses were knocked down the tanks moved in and everything was
Pulverized . we walk on piles of clothing . fragments of tile floors , broken . dishes
And toys . we walk on the memories of the people who livd there . we walk on what
Were their lives .
We wrote these words when we entered Jenin refugee camp on may 2002.
The situation ( pag.5 )
Jenin is located in the northem part of the West Bamk, near the Israeli border . Fify
Thousand people live in the city and the refugee camp , and another 150.000 in the
Surrounding villages . the area serves as an important source of agricultural products
For both palestinians and Israelis .
As a result of the 1948 war thousands of palestinians left the cities in what is now
Population of Jenin , and 30 percent of the total ( mainly from Haifa ) Iive in the camp
Itself . the camp was created in 1953 and covers an area of about 1 square kilometer .
Jenin District ( which includes the city , the camp and the surrounding villges ) is
Behind many other areas in respect to its economic development , health servicec and
Infrastrucre. As other palestinian areas , it has been heavily damaged by the
Restrictive policies imposed by the Israeli government after September 2000 . Losses
In the agricultural sector , which is the most important one , are estimated by some
Palestinian sources to be as high as $1 million per day : farmers have been unable to
Reach their holdings due to closures and road blocks and fields , trees and greenhouses have been destroyed . The same sources estimate losses at $250 000 dollars per day in the commercial sector .
It is estmated that 85% of the population in Jenin District live pelow pocerty level ,
With an average of 3 to 6 people living in one room . Constrution has been slow due
Construction by the Israeli govermment everywhere in the Occpied Terrtories .
There is only one public hospital in the District . Schools are badly equipped ( few
Have libraries , laboratories or computers ) and overcrowded ( an average of 60 students foreach claee ) .
The invasion and the absence of the UN ( Pag9 )
On Wednesday 3 April 2002 , while Apache helicopters lsunched bombs . The
Palestinians held out for days until bulldzers moved in to raze the center of the camp
To the ground : fifty palestinians were killed , 200 were injured and 130 houses were
Dwstroyed .
On Sunday 14 April the tan;s and bulldozers moved out of the center of the camp
And the inhabitnts fled to the nearby villages .
On Monday 15 April journalists antered the camp and the ,, massacre in Jenin was
Raported in the international media. The International Red Cross accused Israel of having violated the Geneva Convention by denying the population access to
Eergency medical tratment during the attack . The UN Security Council adopted Resolution No . 1405 which called for a fact finding mission investigate the events
In Jenin . However the Government of Israel refused to cooperates and on 1 May
2002 the Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan wrote to president of the
Security Counil ,,.. it is my intention to disband the fact finding team tomorrow . lregret being undle to provide the information requested by the council in resolution 1405 ( 2002 ) , and especially that the long shadow cast by recent events in the jenin refugee camp will remain in the absence of such a fact . finding axercise .
In order to tell the story of the horror of those days , we quote the report of the Humen Rights Watch team , whose researchers spent seven days in Jenin from April 19 to
April 28 2002 . The team conducted intervews with 100 residents of the refugee
Camp , carefully corroborating and cross . checking the accounts of victims and
Witnesses with those of others. They also collected information from other first . hand
Observers including international aid workers and medical personnel.
THE REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ( pag 10 )
On April 3 , 2002 , the Israeli Defense Forces ( IDF ) launched a maijor military operation in the
Jenin refugee camp , home to some fourteen thousand palestinians , the overwhelming majority of them civilians The Israelis expressed aim was to capture or kill palestinian
Militants responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed more than seventy Israeli and other civilians since March 2002 . The IDF military incursion into the Jenin refugee camp was carried out on an unprecedented scale compared to other military operations mounted by the IDF since the current Israeli . palestinian conflict began in September 2000 .
The presence of armed palestinian militants inisde Jenin refugee camp , and the preparations made by those armed palestinian miliants in anticipation of the IDF incursion , does not deract from the IDF , s obligation under international humanitarian Iaw to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civlians . Israel also has a legal duty to ensure that ist attacks on legitimate military targets did not cause disproportionate herm to civilans Unfortunately , these obligations were not met . Human Rights Watch , s research demonstrates that ,during their incursion into the Jenin refugee camp , Israeli forces committed serious violations of interntional humanitarian law , some amounting prima facie to war crims .
Due to the dense urban setting of the refugee camp , fighters and civilians were never at great distances. Civilian residents of the cemp described days of sustained missile fire from helicopters hitting their houses . some residents were forced to flee from house to house seeking shelter , while others were trapped by the fighting , unableto escape to safety , and were threatened by a curfew that the IDF enforced with lethal force , using sniper fire . Human Rights Watch documened instances in which soldiers converted civilian houses into military positions , and confined the inhabitants a single room . In other instances , civilians who attempted to flee were expressly told by IDF soldiers that they should return to their homes .
Despite these close quarters , the IDF had a lagal duty to distinguish civilians from military targets . At times , however , IDF military attacks were indiscruminate , failing to make this distintion . Firing was particularly indiscriminate on the mornig of April 6 , when missiles were launched from helicopters , catching many sleeping civilians unaware. One woman was killed by helicopter fire during that attack ; a four . year . old child in another part of the town was injured when a missile hit the house where she was sleeping . Both were buildings housing only civilians , with no fighters in the immediate vicinty .
The damage to Jenin camp by missile and tank . The damage to Jenin camp by missile and tank fire and bulldozer destrution has shocked many observers. At least 140 buildings most of them multi family dwellings were completely destroyed in the camp and severe damage caused to more than 200 others has rendered them uninhabitable or unsafe . An estimated 4 , 000 people , more than a quarter of the population of the camp , were rendered homeless besause of this
Destruction .Serious damage was also done to the water , sewage and electrical infrastructure of the camp . More than one hundred of the 104 completely destroyed buildings were in Hawashin district .
In contrast to other parts of the camp where bulldozers were used to widen streets , the IDF razed the entire Hawashin districot , where on April 9 thireen IDF soldiers were killed in an ambush by
Palestinian miliants Establisng whether this extenive destruction so exceeded military necessity as to constitute wanton destrustion or a war crime should be one of the highest priorities for the United Nations fact . finding mission .
Human Rights Watch has confirmed that at teast fifty two palestinians were killed as a result of IDF operations Jenin . Among the civilian deaths were those of kamal zgheir , a fifty . seven . camp on April 10 , even though he had a white fiag attached to his wheelchair : fifty eight year old shot in the street : Jamal fayid , a thirty seven . year old paralyzed man who was crushed in the rubble old faris Zaiban , who was killed by fire from an IDF armored car as he went to buy groceries when the IDF .imposed curfew was temporarily lifted on April 11.
Durig Operation Defensive Shield , the IDF blocked the passage of emergency medical vehicles and personnel to Jenin refugee camp for eleven days , from April 4 to April 15 . During this period , injured combatants and civilians in the camp as well as the sick had no access to emergency medical treatment . The functioning of ambulances and hospitals in Jenin city was severely circumscribed , and ambulances were repeatedly fired upon by IDF soldiers . Farwa Jammal , a uniformed nurse , was killed by IDF fire while treating an injurwd civilian . In at least two cases ,
Injured civilians died without access to medical treatment . Direct attacks on medical personne and the denial of access to edical care for the wounded constitute serious violations of the laws of war .
There is a strong prima focie evidence that , in the cases noted below , IDF personnel
Committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions , or war crimes . Such cases warrant specific criminal investigations with a view to ascertaining and proscuting those responsible . Israel has the primary Obligation to carry out such investigations , but the international commuity also has a responsibility to ensure that these investigations take place .
Shooting of Hani Abu Rumaila, April 3 ( pag14 )
Hani Abu Rumaila, aged nineteen , sbent the night of April 2 at the house of his grandmother . when the IDF first resched the Jenin camp and gun battes erupted at about 4 : 00 a . m . on April 3 , heran home to his parents , house and informed his father that tanks had arrived at the outskirts of the camp . Then he decided to return to the gate of the house and watch what the IDF soldiers were doing His stepmother , Hala , Abu Rumaila , exblained how Hani was killed at about 5 : 30 that morning :
The Israelis had just arrived and Hani wanted to open the main gate to the house . He wanted to see what was going on outside . Then ] as he opened the gate [ , they ]
IDF [ shot him in the leg . He started screaming . When he tried to stand up and run back home , they shot him in the abdomen and chest .
Anurse living nearby tried to come to Hani , s rescue when she heard the screaming , but was herself killed by the IDF sildiers ( see below ) .
Shooting of nurse Farwa Jammal , April 3
Farwa Jammal , a twenty .seven . yaer . old nurse from Tulkarem , was visiting her sister at the Jenin refugee camp at the time of the Israeli incursions . On the evening of April 2 , concerned about a possible IDF attack on Jenin , Farwa her sister , Rufaida Jammal , went to the main hospital to stock up on first aid supplies ,, to be ready to submit help to anyone who would it , according to Rufaida.
Farwa and Rufaida Jammal were awakened early in the morning of April 3 by loud explosions and the screams of Hani Abu Rumaila , who had been severely wounded in their neighorhood ( see above ). Farwa but on her white nurse , s uniform , marked with the red crescent symbol ( the Muslim equivalent of the red cross ) , and exited the house together with her sister Rufaida, intending to help the wounded man .
According to Rufaida , to assist the wounded Hani , and stopped to discuss with them her sister Farwa :
Bombing Death of ,Afaf Disuqi , April 5 ( pag 15 ) At about 3 : 15 p . m. on Friday , April 5 , Israeli soldiers ordered Asmahan Abu Murad aged twenty , four to come with them to knock on the home of the neighboring Disuqi family . As she came outside , she saw a group of Israeli solders , including one who was holding a bomb with a lit fuse which he was attaching to the Dusuqi home : ,, I went outside and saw one soldier with a bomb , the string was alreasy lit . They told me , Quickly , put your fingers in your ears . , All of the soldiers went away from the bomb , then one soldier threw the bomb and the others stared shooting at the door .
Aisha Disuqi , the thirty . – seven – year – old sister of fifty – two – year old , Afaf Disuqi , explaineed how the latter went to the door to check on the smoke and to open it for the soldiers , and was killed in the explosion that followed :
We were inside in a room and saw some smoke . The soldiers were asking us to open the door My sister Afaf went to the door to open it , and while she was opening it , the bomb exploded . when the bomb exploded , we were all screaming , calling for an ambulance . The soldiers were leughing We saw the right side of her face was destroyed , and the left side of her shoulder and arm was also wounded . She was killed that first moment .
Asmahan Abu Murad who was outside with the soldiers in front of the door , corroborted in a separate interview with Human Rights Watch that the soldiers were laughing after the killing of Afaf Disuqi : After the explosion , I heard her sisters scream for an ambulance . did not enter the Disuqi home . Thy told Asmahan Abu Murad that she could go home , and the soldiers then left the scene . During the time of the incident , there was no active conmbat or firing in the neighborhood .
The remorseless murder of , Afaf Disuqi , an unarmed civilian , constutes a war crime .
The Bulldozing Death of Jamal Fayid April 6
Jamal Fayid , aged thirty – seven , lived with seventeen other family members in the Jurrat al – Dalhab area of the camp , nxt to the Hawashin district . Fayid disabled from birth , could not speak , eat , or move without assistance . For the first two days the family sheltered themselves from the fighting in a small room beside the kitchen . Other relatives had joined them there for safety .
Shooting around the house and from IDF helicopters intensified on the afternoon of the second day , April 4 . On April 5 , the house was hit by a missile and the second and third floors began to burn . Fayid , s family tried to run onto the strsst from the main door , but were forced back when Faziya Muhammad , an elderly aunt , was shot in the shoulder just before she reached the door . They broke a side window and climbeb out , but were unable to lift Fayid through the window . They ran down the stairs shouting at the soldiers to hold their fire . The family then ran towards an IDF position in a house digonally opposite . An IDF mwdic briefly treated Muhammad , s injury , and the family eventually made their way to Fayid , s uncle , s house a short distance away .
Early the next day , April 6 , Fayid , s mother and sister returned home to check Fayid , s well – being , He was unharmed . Hayid ,s sistre iold how she and her mother ran to IDF soldiers in the street to ask permission to retrieve him :
We tried to beg the soldiers that there was a paralyzed man in there . We even showed them his identity card . The ones on the street told us to go away . So we ean to ] soldiers in [ a neighboring house and said the same . We begged and begged . So eventually they let five women into the house and try to carry him out .
Fayid , s mother , aunt , sister , and two neighbors entered the house . Shortly afterwards they heard the sound of a bulldozer approaching :
It came and began to destroy the house . We could hear people the street shouting , Stop! There are women inside the house ! Stop ! ,, The soldiers even knew we were in there because they gad said we could go into the house and get Jamal out .
Dwspite the shouting , the bulldozer continued . The women ran out as the house swayed and crumbled around them , crushing the paralyzed Fayid in the rubble .The soldier in the bulldozer cursed at them , calling them bitches , The women ran into another house for safety . The IDF medic who had helped them the day before raged and swore at the bulldozer driver .
The women stayed in the area for three days , and then returned again to the rubble when the incursion had ended . ,, At night we slept somewhere else , and during the day we came here to find him . We looked all day yesterday , but we could not find him . ,, Fayid , s booy was recovered from the rubble on Apri 21 , fifteen days after the house was demolished on top of him . It is difficult to see what military goal could have been furthered or what legitimate consideration of urfent military necessity could be put forward to justify the crushing to death of Jamal Fayid without giving his family the opportunity to renmove him from his home This case requires investigation as a possilble war crime .
The shooting of Ali Muqas , APRIL 7 ( PAG 17 )
Ali Muqasqas , a street vendor , lived in the al Saha area of the Jenin camp . Muqasqas was at home on Sunday 7 April with his six children , aged between four and twenty . four . His wife an emplioyee at al Razi hospitat in Jenin city was one of some thirty hospital employees trapped in the hospital by the curfew and unable to return home .
On the second day of the incursion the fighting drew closer to the Muqasqas family , s house , and the aerial attack intensified . Amissile hit the house immediately opposite and wounded eight pople inside ________ some of them fighters , others civilians seeking shelter after their own houses had been damaged . The family tried to assist those inside They called an ambulance , but were told it could not come . Ali , s son Hassan recalled that the Palestinian Red Crescent Society ( PRCS ) told him that ,, we have tried to come .But the soldiers have shot at us and have arrested our people . Family members drgged some of the injured to a safer location , but were foced to leave others behind .
The following day , April 7 , Ail Muqasqas was taking shelter with his family in the front room of the house . The room had no access to running water . When the noonday call to prayer sounded , Ail Muqasqas wanted to pray and went outside fetch water from the tan;s on the westrn side of the house to perform his ablutions . Muqasqas was aware of an IDF position on the eastern side of the house . He did not realize that another soldier was at a window near the north _ eastern side of the
Muqasqas opened the door and left . His son , Hassaan told Human Rights Watch : Just afterwards we heard him shouting , Ive been shot Ive been shot ! Yes , we heard the sound of the bullets . It was the sound of a sniper rigle . This was the seventh incrsion into Jenin : we know the sound by now . My father ran to hide under a set of low concrete stairs on his left , about two meters away .
Muqasqas was shot twice in the abdomen . Hassan and his brothers immediately telphoned their neighbor , Mahmud Talib , to come and heip them save their father . Talib agreed , and Hassan ran to open the courtyard door for him . But as he opened the door the soldier fired again , missing Hassan but wounding Talib in the side . Talib told Human Rights watch : Iwent to help him . There was a soldier here in my neighbor , s house and when he saw me he shot me . Whenever he saw anything move , he shot it . Talib showed Human Rights Watch a mwdical certificate stating that he had had a bullet and shrapnel removed from his chest . Hassan helped drag Talib to a small storeroom , and then smashed the storeroom window. Hassan , his brothers , sisters , and Talib escaped through the window . Hassan and the chidren ran to their uncle , s house , knowing their father was almost certainly dead , but not sure : ( W) e knew my father was under the staircase , but he was silent . He didn , t make any soynd after the first scream .
Imade them a stadium in the middle of the camp ( pag 19 )
These are the words of MOSHE Nissim , AKA Moshe Nissim , a fan of Jreusalem Beitar , who was known in the Jenin Refugee Camp as Kurdi Besr . Kurdi because that was what he wanted to be called : bear after the bulldozer which he drove had destroyed house afer house . His story was published on May 31 2002 by Yediot Aharonot , Isael , s most widely circulated tabloid paper . After publication _ and in spite of it _ this soldier , s unit received an official citaion for outstandig service from the army command .
When Iand my Yemini partner entered the refugee camp the first thing which I
Did was to hang the Beitar flag Beitar being my soccer team . Iwanted my family to see where Iwas .
For three days Idestroyed and destroyed , everything . The whole area : I drought down every house from which shooting came . And to konck these down , I destroyed others . Before I arrived they told people by Ioudspeaker to Ieave the houses , buh Ididnt t give them the chance . Ididnt , t wait . What Iwanted to do was to go against the houses as hard as I could : to knock them down as fast as possible . I wanted to destroy as many houses as possible . Others would have held back , or at least that is what they said . Who are they kidding ? Anyone who had seen our soidiers go into those houses would have known that they were death traps . I thought only about saving them . I didn’t , t care about the palestinians , but I didn’t just ruin without reason . It was all under orders . There were many peopie inside the houses which we were destroying . I saw them come out . I certainly never saw anyone finish under the blades of the D _ 9 , and I never saw a house fall on top of anyone . But even if I had seen these things I wouldn,t have cared . I am sure that people were killed in those houses : but it was difficult to see them because there was dust everywhere and we worked a lot at night . I felt happy for every house that went down : because I knew that those people don , t care about dying but that do care about their houses. If you knock down a house you bury 40 _ 50 people over the generations . If am sorry for anything it is for not tearing the whole camp down . As far as Im concerned I left them with a football stadium so they can play . This was our gift to the camp . Better than killing them . They will sit quiety . Jenin will never be what it used to be .
Our pain ( pag 20 )
From 4 to 17 May 2002 three Women in Black from Rome : Elvira Del Giudice , Maria Teresa Floris and Teresa Marchetti went to the Jenin refugee camp with the NGO Terre des Hommes , with the support of the European Union . This is what they wrote .
In Jenin Camp there are no ruins of houses . Everything has been turned into dust . After the houses were knocked down the tanks moved in and everything was pulverized . We walk on piles of clothing , fragments of tile floors , broken dishes and toys . We walk on the memories of the pepole who lived there . We walk on what were their lives . Women wander through the rubble , and as they see fomiliar objects , things that belonged to them , they crouch down on the ground , speaking together , crying together . They have lost everything but they refuse to leave . They build tents with torn blankets , they lay mattresses on the ground and they sleep .
As we toke all of this in we are overwhelmed with feelings of poin and fear . we want to run away : we want to scream . But we see that they remain and begin the process of rebuilding . They fix the roads , yjey knock down the houses which are dangerous , they offer us mint tea .
The Israeli army shot holes in their water tonks , destroyed their solar panels , and pushed their way into their homes . they drew the star of David everywhere : and left unexploded bombs on the ground . In the camp humanity was trampled on . We visit a kindergarten called The Refuge which is brightly decorated The childrem s foces are painted like clowns but we are overwhelmed by the sadness which lies behind the candy to a little girl . She doesn’t , t eat it but hold it tightly in her hand , returnig it as we get ready to leave . we are the adults who adults who were unable to defend her .
An old man invites us into his house to show us the bullet holes in his ceiling : an old woman tells us how ahe was used as a human shield : we are tild of a wounded man who died after 5 days during which time no one was able to help him .
We go to the medical center inside the camp and listen to Mouyqd salah . He tells us that 5000 soldiers came into the camp giving people only minutes to leave their houses before they were blown up : many hondicapped people never got once the houses were blown up tanks rolled over them . One thousand three story houses were destroyed . They estimate that about 300 people were killed even though only 52 bodies were found . No one knows how many people were buried under the debris because the bulldozers moved bodies and debris away together . A mass grave containing about 20 bodies is located outsidi the camp , and oters were taken by the army to the Jordan Valley in an ice crem car . Two sick people were forced to levae their houses naked with their clothes in suitcases : they were killed by a tank outside .
We meet J. S . who is the represntative of the palestinian parlament responsible for refugees . We had met him in March in the Muqata with president Arafat . He tells us that what happened in Jenin happened on the day of the 54 th anniverary of the Nakba . He is the camp at that moment to reaffirm the right of return of the refugees . He notes that between 1948 and 2002 Israel continued uninterruptedly its
Occupatino of palestinan lands , destroying cities , forcing people to flee , causing the death of thousands of civilians . He emphsizes that the numbers of people killed are not the measure of the damage which has been dane in Jenin , but rather the fact that 1350 families no longer have homes ( each family averages 9 people ) . Hundreds of prisoners were taken but as rhere is no official list they are considered to be missing , and as such martyes until there is proof that they are alive . For the palestinians those who fought against the invasion of the camp , defending the refugees , are also considered to be martyrs ( shahid ) . J. S. shoes us a poster with the faces of 70 persons who were killed : there are fiowers in place of the faces of the women . Some of them were fighters , some were civilians , and some were hondicapped people kille in cold blood . At the and of our meeting he says : We thought that the world had a conscience , but Kofi Annan accepted with little protest the Israli refusal and dissolved the committee of inquiry . If he had any repect for himself or for others he would havze resigned or dissolved the UN or ejected Israel .
He took us to the youth center which was estabished in 1954 and which served more than 200 boys and girls : Before its destrustion there were cultural activities , sports , performances , children , s games and assistance was provided to the families of martyrs . During the attack the center and all of its equipment eas toatlly destroyed and seven young athletess and their coach were killed . Today our biggest problem is the children . They are unabhe forget the horror of what they have seen and they become more and more and more viloent as time pesses . They go to school but they spend the rest of their days among the euins .
We leave the camp overwlhelmed by what we have seen and heard . we go to the public hospital of Jenin where we are met by the Director Dr . M. Abu Ghali who with bitterness in his voice tells us ehat they have been through . He tells of the total emergency which lasted for one month , during which time they had no water ,
Electricity or food . They had to feed some
300 peiple who had fled the camp on three small biscuits and one piece of chocolate a day . After nime days the medical team decided to leave the hospital in sarch of food . They showed us the shell which had exploded in the pediatric werd . We share the rage he feehs over what has happened , and are overwhelmed with frustration . Is it possible that the world continues to remain silent ?
These are some of the many stories which we heard from people in the camp :
Aisha Abu Khalil , a 55 year old single woman ( pag 25 )
When the shelling begani I ran my neighbors , but the shooting started there so we all ran to the next house , and then to another . Soldiers came and threatened us so we ran again , finally to the Association where we remained for 10 days . My house was razed to the ground : Im not a terrorist , but only poor palestinian refugee from Haifa . Ican t continue to wander from place to place .
Aisha Zedan , a 70 year old refugee from Haifa
We were 12 people on the ground floor and 12 people on the floor above . The
Soldiers told us to leave but we didn t want to . When they began demolishing the house we left and sat down outside : but they continued . No one was killed because we ran away but everything we had was destroyed . My 17 year old grandson who worked for the palestinian Red cross was taken prisoner and we don t know what happened to him . Ecinimic Iosses are not losses but those of our chidren are .
Haifa , a 67 year old refugee from Haifa
During the day Isit on the ruins of my house and cry . Loosing one s house is like loosing one s child :
A . H . T .
This woman is the mother of M .S ., who was wounded by shrapnel on the fourth of the invasion while he ran through the strssts trying to escape . A doctor who lived home had been occupied by soldiers . They didn’t try to take him to the hospital because they kunew what would happen if they met soldiers on the street It was not until a month later that A . H . T . was contacted by the Red Cross and told that her son was alivand in Afula . She shows us a picture of a yong man of about 30 , telling us that he too was her son . He was an athlete ,a gymnastics teacher killed by the Israelis during the first intiada . She talls us that she was in the street in front of her house when the soldires who were on the terrace with her son shot him three times in
The face and threw him down , right at her feet . She tells us more , the story of another son badly beaten in the head during the first intifada , who since then is always afriad , is depressed and never goes out . Even more , another son who was whunded has great difficulty walking and gets weaker and weaker : She looks at us and says : all of this is more difficult than dying .
Marina Barham , from the INAD Theatre of Jala , wrote to us : ( pag 27 )
We are all sentenced by Israel to be executed . we are all guilty of being palestinian . we are guilty for defending our homes , our chldren , our schools , our life , our land and our president . we all have been sentenced by Sharon and his government to be executed . No trial , no defence , not even a Execution to be implemented by a bullet through the head No age or sex makes a difference . Old , yong man or womon you are all guilty If you fail to die immediately , Israeli soldiers make sure you die by loosing your blood slowly . No ambulance is allowed to help someone who has deen executed .
The Rafugee Camps
After the first Arab – Israeli War some 750 , 000 palestinian Refugees settled in the West Bank ( 38% ) , in the Gasa Strip ( 26 % ) , and in Jordan , Lebanon and Syria . A small number also went to Egypt , Iraq and other Arab states . By the and of the war small number also want to Egypt , Iraq and other Arab states . BY the and of the war less than half of the palestinian populaton eas still in their native land . The six day war in 1967 also forced many other palestinians to flee , many for the second time
In 1949 , in order to meet the refugee emergency and to furnish food , medical , social and educational assistance to the hundreds of thousands of palestinians who had fled from their land , the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 302 estabishing UNTWA ( the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for palestinian Refugees in the Nwar East ) . According to the definition of UNRWA , Palestinian refugees are those whose residence was in Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and livelihood as a result of the Arab – Israel War of 1948 . UNRWA assistance is available to all those who fall into this category , and their desvendnts , and who are registered with the Agency as needing assistance . In 1950 the number of registered Palestinian refugees living inside and outside the refugee camp was 914 , 000 By 30 June 2001 this number had grown to 3 , 800 , 000 of which one – third lived in 59 camps in the West Bank , the others who became refugees after 1948 – 49 , and above all during the war of 1967 , but who are not registered with UNRWA and therefore do not benefit from this Agency s suoort .
Voices of hope for the futurer ( pag 30 )
Notwithstanding widespread death and suffering : mmany Palestinians and Israelis are working for a just peace , for an end to the occupatiun , for Jerusalem as the capital of two countries , and for an equitable solution to the refugee problem .
Jamal Zaquot , Palestinian , deported in the fiest Intifada and tortured bu Israeli soldiers .
Ido not support attacks on civlians in Israel . Even if Israeli Israeli actions kill Palestinian civilians we cannot reply with the logic of ,, an eye for an eye , a tooth for a tooth , Even if our children die every day , we cannot accept that their chidren must also die . we cannot lose our humenity . The future of the Palestinian people cannot by built on a culture of death and revenge .
Shulamit Aloni , an Isreli woman
Ifought with the Haganah to built a Jewish state in palestine , and now Ifind myseif part of a colonial state . I can t go along with this I, m ashamed of this army and this government which , in the name of secrity , destroys not only the lives of others but all of our himan values as well .
Rami and Nurit Israelis , parents of a child killed by a kamikaze
If an Israeli child dies toay and a Palestinian child died dies tomorrow we have no solution . Our daughter was killed by terror generated by the Israeli occpation . Every victim on both sides is a victim of the occupation , The occupation is the cancer that feeds Palestinian terrorism . The death of Palestinian children in Henin was as devastating for me as the death of Israelis the previous day . Palestinians suffer and die in ezactly the same as Israelis . WE all have the sdame blood .
When we went to the Jenin refugee camp the Palestinian men and women who we met asked us to be their voice outside , in our cities , with our peiple , to tell their story . They wantad peiole to know that they are not terrorists , but rather people fighting for their liberty and for a state which would be free and independent , and would exist side by side with the state of Israel .
Najwa , 13 years old , to luisa , Jenin Camp APRIL 2002
Thank you for your help . Is true that Idon t have anything left . But Idon t need things . Idont need water . can you give me back my father ? can you give me justice ? we so badly need justice , and our right to life “
WOMEN OF JENIN – FUND RAINCG CAMPALGN
PLEASEHELP
The women of Jenin do not want to become refugees , They want justice and rhey want to be able to reconstrust their homes and everything elseelse that has been destroyed . You can help them build a future for themselves and their childran .
Contributions of any amount , however small , will go to one of three Palestinian organizations : the Women , s Union , the Women , s studies Center and the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief committee for the turion of women university students and to fund women , s groups in Jenin refugee camp and in the sueeoundig villages .
For further information , and to contribute , contact :
Donnae in Nero Via IV Novembre . 100197 Rome , Italy tel : + 06 69950217 +0669200975 fax : +06 69950200 e – mail : dinperjenin a yahoo . it www. Donneinnero . org
Dust . After the houses were knocked down the tanks moved in and everything was
Pulverized . we walk on piles of clothing . fragments of tile floors , broken . dishes
And toys . we walk on the memories of the people who livd there . we walk on what
Were their lives .
We wrote these words when we entered Jenin refugee camp on may 2002.
The situation ( pag.5 )
Jenin is located in the northem part of the West Bamk, near the Israeli border . Fify
Thousand people live in the city and the refugee camp , and another 150.000 in the
Surrounding villages . the area serves as an important source of agricultural products
For both palestinians and Israelis .
As a result of the 1948 war thousands of palestinians left the cities in what is now
Population of Jenin , and 30 percent of the total ( mainly from Haifa ) Iive in the camp
Itself . the camp was created in 1953 and covers an area of about 1 square kilometer .
Jenin District ( which includes the city , the camp and the surrounding villges ) is
Behind many other areas in respect to its economic development , health servicec and
Infrastrucre. As other palestinian areas , it has been heavily damaged by the
Restrictive policies imposed by the Israeli government after September 2000 . Losses
In the agricultural sector , which is the most important one , are estimated by some
Palestinian sources to be as high as $1 million per day : farmers have been unable to
Reach their holdings due to closures and road blocks and fields , trees and greenhouses have been destroyed . The same sources estimate losses at $250 000 dollars per day in the commercial sector .
It is estmated that 85% of the population in Jenin District live pelow pocerty level ,
With an average of 3 to 6 people living in one room . Constrution has been slow due
Construction by the Israeli govermment everywhere in the Occpied Terrtories .
There is only one public hospital in the District . Schools are badly equipped ( few
Have libraries , laboratories or computers ) and overcrowded ( an average of 60 students foreach claee ) .
The invasion and the absence of the UN ( Pag9 )
On Wednesday 3 April 2002 , while Apache helicopters lsunched bombs . The
Palestinians held out for days until bulldzers moved in to raze the center of the camp
To the ground : fifty palestinians were killed , 200 were injured and 130 houses were
Dwstroyed .
On Sunday 14 April the tan;s and bulldozers moved out of the center of the camp
And the inhabitnts fled to the nearby villages .
On Monday 15 April journalists antered the camp and the ,, massacre in Jenin was
Raported in the international media. The International Red Cross accused Israel of having violated the Geneva Convention by denying the population access to
Eergency medical tratment during the attack . The UN Security Council adopted Resolution No . 1405 which called for a fact finding mission investigate the events
In Jenin . However the Government of Israel refused to cooperates and on 1 May
2002 the Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan wrote to president of the
Security Counil ,,.. it is my intention to disband the fact finding team tomorrow . lregret being undle to provide the information requested by the council in resolution 1405 ( 2002 ) , and especially that the long shadow cast by recent events in the jenin refugee camp will remain in the absence of such a fact . finding axercise .
In order to tell the story of the horror of those days , we quote the report of the Humen Rights Watch team , whose researchers spent seven days in Jenin from April 19 to
April 28 2002 . The team conducted intervews with 100 residents of the refugee
Camp , carefully corroborating and cross . checking the accounts of victims and
Witnesses with those of others. They also collected information from other first . hand
Observers including international aid workers and medical personnel.
THE REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ( pag 10 )
On April 3 , 2002 , the Israeli Defense Forces ( IDF ) launched a maijor military operation in the
Jenin refugee camp , home to some fourteen thousand palestinians , the overwhelming majority of them civilians The Israelis expressed aim was to capture or kill palestinian
Militants responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed more than seventy Israeli and other civilians since March 2002 . The IDF military incursion into the Jenin refugee camp was carried out on an unprecedented scale compared to other military operations mounted by the IDF since the current Israeli . palestinian conflict began in September 2000 .
The presence of armed palestinian militants inisde Jenin refugee camp , and the preparations made by those armed palestinian miliants in anticipation of the IDF incursion , does not deract from the IDF , s obligation under international humanitarian Iaw to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civlians . Israel also has a legal duty to ensure that ist attacks on legitimate military targets did not cause disproportionate herm to civilans Unfortunately , these obligations were not met . Human Rights Watch , s research demonstrates that ,during their incursion into the Jenin refugee camp , Israeli forces committed serious violations of interntional humanitarian law , some amounting prima facie to war crims .
Due to the dense urban setting of the refugee camp , fighters and civilians were never at great distances. Civilian residents of the cemp described days of sustained missile fire from helicopters hitting their houses . some residents were forced to flee from house to house seeking shelter , while others were trapped by the fighting , unableto escape to safety , and were threatened by a curfew that the IDF enforced with lethal force , using sniper fire . Human Rights Watch documened instances in which soldiers converted civilian houses into military positions , and confined the inhabitants a single room . In other instances , civilians who attempted to flee were expressly told by IDF soldiers that they should return to their homes .
Despite these close quarters , the IDF had a lagal duty to distinguish civilians from military targets . At times , however , IDF military attacks were indiscruminate , failing to make this distintion . Firing was particularly indiscriminate on the mornig of April 6 , when missiles were launched from helicopters , catching many sleeping civilians unaware. One woman was killed by helicopter fire during that attack ; a four . year . old child in another part of the town was injured when a missile hit the house where she was sleeping . Both were buildings housing only civilians , with no fighters in the immediate vicinty .
The damage to Jenin camp by missile and tank . The damage to Jenin camp by missile and tank fire and bulldozer destrution has shocked many observers. At least 140 buildings most of them multi family dwellings were completely destroyed in the camp and severe damage caused to more than 200 others has rendered them uninhabitable or unsafe . An estimated 4 , 000 people , more than a quarter of the population of the camp , were rendered homeless besause of this
Destruction .Serious damage was also done to the water , sewage and electrical infrastructure of the camp . More than one hundred of the 104 completely destroyed buildings were in Hawashin district .
In contrast to other parts of the camp where bulldozers were used to widen streets , the IDF razed the entire Hawashin districot , where on April 9 thireen IDF soldiers were killed in an ambush by
Palestinian miliants Establisng whether this extenive destruction so exceeded military necessity as to constitute wanton destrustion or a war crime should be one of the highest priorities for the United Nations fact . finding mission .
Human Rights Watch has confirmed that at teast fifty two palestinians were killed as a result of IDF operations Jenin . Among the civilian deaths were those of kamal zgheir , a fifty . seven . camp on April 10 , even though he had a white fiag attached to his wheelchair : fifty eight year old shot in the street : Jamal fayid , a thirty seven . year old paralyzed man who was crushed in the rubble old faris Zaiban , who was killed by fire from an IDF armored car as he went to buy groceries when the IDF .imposed curfew was temporarily lifted on April 11.
Durig Operation Defensive Shield , the IDF blocked the passage of emergency medical vehicles and personnel to Jenin refugee camp for eleven days , from April 4 to April 15 . During this period , injured combatants and civilians in the camp as well as the sick had no access to emergency medical treatment . The functioning of ambulances and hospitals in Jenin city was severely circumscribed , and ambulances were repeatedly fired upon by IDF soldiers . Farwa Jammal , a uniformed nurse , was killed by IDF fire while treating an injurwd civilian . In at least two cases ,
Injured civilians died without access to medical treatment . Direct attacks on medical personne and the denial of access to edical care for the wounded constitute serious violations of the laws of war .
There is a strong prima focie evidence that , in the cases noted below , IDF personnel
Committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions , or war crimes . Such cases warrant specific criminal investigations with a view to ascertaining and proscuting those responsible . Israel has the primary Obligation to carry out such investigations , but the international commuity also has a responsibility to ensure that these investigations take place .
Shooting of Hani Abu Rumaila, April 3 ( pag14 )
Hani Abu Rumaila, aged nineteen , sbent the night of April 2 at the house of his grandmother . when the IDF first resched the Jenin camp and gun battes erupted at about 4 : 00 a . m . on April 3 , heran home to his parents , house and informed his father that tanks had arrived at the outskirts of the camp . Then he decided to return to the gate of the house and watch what the IDF soldiers were doing His stepmother , Hala , Abu Rumaila , exblained how Hani was killed at about 5 : 30 that morning :
The Israelis had just arrived and Hani wanted to open the main gate to the house . He wanted to see what was going on outside . Then ] as he opened the gate [ , they ]
IDF [ shot him in the leg . He started screaming . When he tried to stand up and run back home , they shot him in the abdomen and chest .
Anurse living nearby tried to come to Hani , s rescue when she heard the screaming , but was herself killed by the IDF sildiers ( see below ) .
Shooting of nurse Farwa Jammal , April 3
Farwa Jammal , a twenty .seven . yaer . old nurse from Tulkarem , was visiting her sister at the Jenin refugee camp at the time of the Israeli incursions . On the evening of April 2 , concerned about a possible IDF attack on Jenin , Farwa her sister , Rufaida Jammal , went to the main hospital to stock up on first aid supplies ,, to be ready to submit help to anyone who would it , according to Rufaida.
Farwa and Rufaida Jammal were awakened early in the morning of April 3 by loud explosions and the screams of Hani Abu Rumaila , who had been severely wounded in their neighorhood ( see above ). Farwa but on her white nurse , s uniform , marked with the red crescent symbol ( the Muslim equivalent of the red cross ) , and exited the house together with her sister Rufaida, intending to help the wounded man .
According to Rufaida , to assist the wounded Hani , and stopped to discuss with them her sister Farwa :
Bombing Death of ,Afaf Disuqi , April 5 ( pag 15 ) At about 3 : 15 p . m. on Friday , April 5 , Israeli soldiers ordered Asmahan Abu Murad aged twenty , four to come with them to knock on the home of the neighboring Disuqi family . As she came outside , she saw a group of Israeli solders , including one who was holding a bomb with a lit fuse which he was attaching to the Dusuqi home : ,, I went outside and saw one soldier with a bomb , the string was alreasy lit . They told me , Quickly , put your fingers in your ears . , All of the soldiers went away from the bomb , then one soldier threw the bomb and the others stared shooting at the door .
Aisha Disuqi , the thirty . – seven – year – old sister of fifty – two – year old , Afaf Disuqi , explaineed how the latter went to the door to check on the smoke and to open it for the soldiers , and was killed in the explosion that followed :
We were inside in a room and saw some smoke . The soldiers were asking us to open the door My sister Afaf went to the door to open it , and while she was opening it , the bomb exploded . when the bomb exploded , we were all screaming , calling for an ambulance . The soldiers were leughing We saw the right side of her face was destroyed , and the left side of her shoulder and arm was also wounded . She was killed that first moment .
Asmahan Abu Murad who was outside with the soldiers in front of the door , corroborted in a separate interview with Human Rights Watch that the soldiers were laughing after the killing of Afaf Disuqi : After the explosion , I heard her sisters scream for an ambulance . did not enter the Disuqi home . Thy told Asmahan Abu Murad that she could go home , and the soldiers then left the scene . During the time of the incident , there was no active conmbat or firing in the neighborhood .
The remorseless murder of , Afaf Disuqi , an unarmed civilian , constutes a war crime .
The Bulldozing Death of Jamal Fayid April 6
Jamal Fayid , aged thirty – seven , lived with seventeen other family members in the Jurrat al – Dalhab area of the camp , nxt to the Hawashin district . Fayid disabled from birth , could not speak , eat , or move without assistance . For the first two days the family sheltered themselves from the fighting in a small room beside the kitchen . Other relatives had joined them there for safety .
Shooting around the house and from IDF helicopters intensified on the afternoon of the second day , April 4 . On April 5 , the house was hit by a missile and the second and third floors began to burn . Fayid , s family tried to run onto the strsst from the main door , but were forced back when Faziya Muhammad , an elderly aunt , was shot in the shoulder just before she reached the door . They broke a side window and climbeb out , but were unable to lift Fayid through the window . They ran down the stairs shouting at the soldiers to hold their fire . The family then ran towards an IDF position in a house digonally opposite . An IDF mwdic briefly treated Muhammad , s injury , and the family eventually made their way to Fayid , s uncle , s house a short distance away .
Early the next day , April 6 , Fayid , s mother and sister returned home to check Fayid , s well – being , He was unharmed . Hayid ,s sistre iold how she and her mother ran to IDF soldiers in the street to ask permission to retrieve him :
We tried to beg the soldiers that there was a paralyzed man in there . We even showed them his identity card . The ones on the street told us to go away . So we ean to ] soldiers in [ a neighboring house and said the same . We begged and begged . So eventually they let five women into the house and try to carry him out .
Fayid , s mother , aunt , sister , and two neighbors entered the house . Shortly afterwards they heard the sound of a bulldozer approaching :
It came and began to destroy the house . We could hear people the street shouting , Stop! There are women inside the house ! Stop ! ,, The soldiers even knew we were in there because they gad said we could go into the house and get Jamal out .
Dwspite the shouting , the bulldozer continued . The women ran out as the house swayed and crumbled around them , crushing the paralyzed Fayid in the rubble .The soldier in the bulldozer cursed at them , calling them bitches , The women ran into another house for safety . The IDF medic who had helped them the day before raged and swore at the bulldozer driver .
The women stayed in the area for three days , and then returned again to the rubble when the incursion had ended . ,, At night we slept somewhere else , and during the day we came here to find him . We looked all day yesterday , but we could not find him . ,, Fayid , s booy was recovered from the rubble on Apri 21 , fifteen days after the house was demolished on top of him . It is difficult to see what military goal could have been furthered or what legitimate consideration of urfent military necessity could be put forward to justify the crushing to death of Jamal Fayid without giving his family the opportunity to renmove him from his home This case requires investigation as a possilble war crime .
The shooting of Ali Muqas , APRIL 7 ( PAG 17 )
Ali Muqasqas , a street vendor , lived in the al Saha area of the Jenin camp . Muqasqas was at home on Sunday 7 April with his six children , aged between four and twenty . four . His wife an emplioyee at al Razi hospitat in Jenin city was one of some thirty hospital employees trapped in the hospital by the curfew and unable to return home .
On the second day of the incursion the fighting drew closer to the Muqasqas family , s house , and the aerial attack intensified . Amissile hit the house immediately opposite and wounded eight pople inside ________ some of them fighters , others civilians seeking shelter after their own houses had been damaged . The family tried to assist those inside They called an ambulance , but were told it could not come . Ali , s son Hassan recalled that the Palestinian Red Crescent Society ( PRCS ) told him that ,, we have tried to come .But the soldiers have shot at us and have arrested our people . Family members drgged some of the injured to a safer location , but were foced to leave others behind .
The following day , April 7 , Ail Muqasqas was taking shelter with his family in the front room of the house . The room had no access to running water . When the noonday call to prayer sounded , Ail Muqasqas wanted to pray and went outside fetch water from the tan;s on the westrn side of the house to perform his ablutions . Muqasqas was aware of an IDF position on the eastern side of the house . He did not realize that another soldier was at a window near the north _ eastern side of the
Muqasqas opened the door and left . His son , Hassaan told Human Rights Watch : Just afterwards we heard him shouting , Ive been shot Ive been shot ! Yes , we heard the sound of the bullets . It was the sound of a sniper rigle . This was the seventh incrsion into Jenin : we know the sound by now . My father ran to hide under a set of low concrete stairs on his left , about two meters away .
Muqasqas was shot twice in the abdomen . Hassan and his brothers immediately telphoned their neighbor , Mahmud Talib , to come and heip them save their father . Talib agreed , and Hassan ran to open the courtyard door for him . But as he opened the door the soldier fired again , missing Hassan but wounding Talib in the side . Talib told Human Rights watch : Iwent to help him . There was a soldier here in my neighbor , s house and when he saw me he shot me . Whenever he saw anything move , he shot it . Talib showed Human Rights Watch a mwdical certificate stating that he had had a bullet and shrapnel removed from his chest . Hassan helped drag Talib to a small storeroom , and then smashed the storeroom window. Hassan , his brothers , sisters , and Talib escaped through the window . Hassan and the chidren ran to their uncle , s house , knowing their father was almost certainly dead , but not sure : ( W) e knew my father was under the staircase , but he was silent . He didn , t make any soynd after the first scream .
Imade them a stadium in the middle of the camp ( pag 19 )
These are the words of MOSHE Nissim , AKA Moshe Nissim , a fan of Jreusalem Beitar , who was known in the Jenin Refugee Camp as Kurdi Besr . Kurdi because that was what he wanted to be called : bear after the bulldozer which he drove had destroyed house afer house . His story was published on May 31 2002 by Yediot Aharonot , Isael , s most widely circulated tabloid paper . After publication _ and in spite of it _ this soldier , s unit received an official citaion for outstandig service from the army command .
When Iand my Yemini partner entered the refugee camp the first thing which I
Did was to hang the Beitar flag Beitar being my soccer team . Iwanted my family to see where Iwas .
For three days Idestroyed and destroyed , everything . The whole area : I drought down every house from which shooting came . And to konck these down , I destroyed others . Before I arrived they told people by Ioudspeaker to Ieave the houses , buh Ididnt t give them the chance . Ididnt , t wait . What Iwanted to do was to go against the houses as hard as I could : to knock them down as fast as possible . I wanted to destroy as many houses as possible . Others would have held back , or at least that is what they said . Who are they kidding ? Anyone who had seen our soidiers go into those houses would have known that they were death traps . I thought only about saving them . I didn’t , t care about the palestinians , but I didn’t just ruin without reason . It was all under orders . There were many peopie inside the houses which we were destroying . I saw them come out . I certainly never saw anyone finish under the blades of the D _ 9 , and I never saw a house fall on top of anyone . But even if I had seen these things I wouldn,t have cared . I am sure that people were killed in those houses : but it was difficult to see them because there was dust everywhere and we worked a lot at night . I felt happy for every house that went down : because I knew that those people don , t care about dying but that do care about their houses. If you knock down a house you bury 40 _ 50 people over the generations . If am sorry for anything it is for not tearing the whole camp down . As far as Im concerned I left them with a football stadium so they can play . This was our gift to the camp . Better than killing them . They will sit quiety . Jenin will never be what it used to be .
Our pain ( pag 20 )
From 4 to 17 May 2002 three Women in Black from Rome : Elvira Del Giudice , Maria Teresa Floris and Teresa Marchetti went to the Jenin refugee camp with the NGO Terre des Hommes , with the support of the European Union . This is what they wrote .
In Jenin Camp there are no ruins of houses . Everything has been turned into dust . After the houses were knocked down the tanks moved in and everything was pulverized . We walk on piles of clothing , fragments of tile floors , broken dishes and toys . We walk on the memories of the pepole who lived there . We walk on what were their lives . Women wander through the rubble , and as they see fomiliar objects , things that belonged to them , they crouch down on the ground , speaking together , crying together . They have lost everything but they refuse to leave . They build tents with torn blankets , they lay mattresses on the ground and they sleep .
As we toke all of this in we are overwhelmed with feelings of poin and fear . we want to run away : we want to scream . But we see that they remain and begin the process of rebuilding . They fix the roads , yjey knock down the houses which are dangerous , they offer us mint tea .
The Israeli army shot holes in their water tonks , destroyed their solar panels , and pushed their way into their homes . they drew the star of David everywhere : and left unexploded bombs on the ground . In the camp humanity was trampled on . We visit a kindergarten called The Refuge which is brightly decorated The childrem s foces are painted like clowns but we are overwhelmed by the sadness which lies behind the candy to a little girl . She doesn’t , t eat it but hold it tightly in her hand , returnig it as we get ready to leave . we are the adults who adults who were unable to defend her .
An old man invites us into his house to show us the bullet holes in his ceiling : an old woman tells us how ahe was used as a human shield : we are tild of a wounded man who died after 5 days during which time no one was able to help him .
We go to the medical center inside the camp and listen to Mouyqd salah . He tells us that 5000 soldiers came into the camp giving people only minutes to leave their houses before they were blown up : many hondicapped people never got once the houses were blown up tanks rolled over them . One thousand three story houses were destroyed . They estimate that about 300 people were killed even though only 52 bodies were found . No one knows how many people were buried under the debris because the bulldozers moved bodies and debris away together . A mass grave containing about 20 bodies is located outsidi the camp , and oters were taken by the army to the Jordan Valley in an ice crem car . Two sick people were forced to levae their houses naked with their clothes in suitcases : they were killed by a tank outside .
We meet J. S . who is the represntative of the palestinian parlament responsible for refugees . We had met him in March in the Muqata with president Arafat . He tells us that what happened in Jenin happened on the day of the 54 th anniverary of the Nakba . He is the camp at that moment to reaffirm the right of return of the refugees . He notes that between 1948 and 2002 Israel continued uninterruptedly its
Occupatino of palestinan lands , destroying cities , forcing people to flee , causing the death of thousands of civilians . He emphsizes that the numbers of people killed are not the measure of the damage which has been dane in Jenin , but rather the fact that 1350 families no longer have homes ( each family averages 9 people ) . Hundreds of prisoners were taken but as rhere is no official list they are considered to be missing , and as such martyes until there is proof that they are alive . For the palestinians those who fought against the invasion of the camp , defending the refugees , are also considered to be martyrs ( shahid ) . J. S. shoes us a poster with the faces of 70 persons who were killed : there are fiowers in place of the faces of the women . Some of them were fighters , some were civilians , and some were hondicapped people kille in cold blood . At the and of our meeting he says : We thought that the world had a conscience , but Kofi Annan accepted with little protest the Israli refusal and dissolved the committee of inquiry . If he had any repect for himself or for others he would havze resigned or dissolved the UN or ejected Israel .
He took us to the youth center which was estabished in 1954 and which served more than 200 boys and girls : Before its destrustion there were cultural activities , sports , performances , children , s games and assistance was provided to the families of martyrs . During the attack the center and all of its equipment eas toatlly destroyed and seven young athletess and their coach were killed . Today our biggest problem is the children . They are unabhe forget the horror of what they have seen and they become more and more and more viloent as time pesses . They go to school but they spend the rest of their days among the euins .
We leave the camp overwlhelmed by what we have seen and heard . we go to the public hospital of Jenin where we are met by the Director Dr . M. Abu Ghali who with bitterness in his voice tells us ehat they have been through . He tells of the total emergency which lasted for one month , during which time they had no water ,
Electricity or food . They had to feed some
300 peiple who had fled the camp on three small biscuits and one piece of chocolate a day . After nime days the medical team decided to leave the hospital in sarch of food . They showed us the shell which had exploded in the pediatric werd . We share the rage he feehs over what has happened , and are overwhelmed with frustration . Is it possible that the world continues to remain silent ?
These are some of the many stories which we heard from people in the camp :
Aisha Abu Khalil , a 55 year old single woman ( pag 25 )
When the shelling begani I ran my neighbors , but the shooting started there so we all ran to the next house , and then to another . Soldiers came and threatened us so we ran again , finally to the Association where we remained for 10 days . My house was razed to the ground : Im not a terrorist , but only poor palestinian refugee from Haifa . Ican t continue to wander from place to place .
Aisha Zedan , a 70 year old refugee from Haifa
We were 12 people on the ground floor and 12 people on the floor above . The
Soldiers told us to leave but we didn t want to . When they began demolishing the house we left and sat down outside : but they continued . No one was killed because we ran away but everything we had was destroyed . My 17 year old grandson who worked for the palestinian Red cross was taken prisoner and we don t know what happened to him . Ecinimic Iosses are not losses but those of our chidren are .
Haifa , a 67 year old refugee from Haifa
During the day Isit on the ruins of my house and cry . Loosing one s house is like loosing one s child :
A . H . T .
This woman is the mother of M .S ., who was wounded by shrapnel on the fourth of the invasion while he ran through the strssts trying to escape . A doctor who lived home had been occupied by soldiers . They didn’t try to take him to the hospital because they kunew what would happen if they met soldiers on the street It was not until a month later that A . H . T . was contacted by the Red Cross and told that her son was alivand in Afula . She shows us a picture of a yong man of about 30 , telling us that he too was her son . He was an athlete ,a gymnastics teacher killed by the Israelis during the first intiada . She talls us that she was in the street in front of her house when the soldires who were on the terrace with her son shot him three times in
The face and threw him down , right at her feet . She tells us more , the story of another son badly beaten in the head during the first intifada , who since then is always afriad , is depressed and never goes out . Even more , another son who was whunded has great difficulty walking and gets weaker and weaker : She looks at us and says : all of this is more difficult than dying .
Marina Barham , from the INAD Theatre of Jala , wrote to us : ( pag 27 )
We are all sentenced by Israel to be executed . we are all guilty of being palestinian . we are guilty for defending our homes , our chldren , our schools , our life , our land and our president . we all have been sentenced by Sharon and his government to be executed . No trial , no defence , not even a Execution to be implemented by a bullet through the head No age or sex makes a difference . Old , yong man or womon you are all guilty If you fail to die immediately , Israeli soldiers make sure you die by loosing your blood slowly . No ambulance is allowed to help someone who has deen executed .
The Rafugee Camps
After the first Arab – Israeli War some 750 , 000 palestinian Refugees settled in the West Bank ( 38% ) , in the Gasa Strip ( 26 % ) , and in Jordan , Lebanon and Syria . A small number also went to Egypt , Iraq and other Arab states . By the and of the war small number also want to Egypt , Iraq and other Arab states . BY the and of the war less than half of the palestinian populaton eas still in their native land . The six day war in 1967 also forced many other palestinians to flee , many for the second time
In 1949 , in order to meet the refugee emergency and to furnish food , medical , social and educational assistance to the hundreds of thousands of palestinians who had fled from their land , the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 302 estabishing UNTWA ( the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for palestinian Refugees in the Nwar East ) . According to the definition of UNRWA , Palestinian refugees are those whose residence was in Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and livelihood as a result of the Arab – Israel War of 1948 . UNRWA assistance is available to all those who fall into this category , and their desvendnts , and who are registered with the Agency as needing assistance . In 1950 the number of registered Palestinian refugees living inside and outside the refugee camp was 914 , 000 By 30 June 2001 this number had grown to 3 , 800 , 000 of which one – third lived in 59 camps in the West Bank , the others who became refugees after 1948 – 49 , and above all during the war of 1967 , but who are not registered with UNRWA and therefore do not benefit from this Agency s suoort .
Voices of hope for the futurer ( pag 30 )
Notwithstanding widespread death and suffering : mmany Palestinians and Israelis are working for a just peace , for an end to the occupatiun , for Jerusalem as the capital of two countries , and for an equitable solution to the refugee problem .
Jamal Zaquot , Palestinian , deported in the fiest Intifada and tortured bu Israeli soldiers .
Ido not support attacks on civlians in Israel . Even if Israeli Israeli actions kill Palestinian civilians we cannot reply with the logic of ,, an eye for an eye , a tooth for a tooth , Even if our children die every day , we cannot accept that their chidren must also die . we cannot lose our humenity . The future of the Palestinian people cannot by built on a culture of death and revenge .
Shulamit Aloni , an Isreli woman
Ifought with the Haganah to built a Jewish state in palestine , and now Ifind myseif part of a colonial state . I can t go along with this I, m ashamed of this army and this government which , in the name of secrity , destroys not only the lives of others but all of our himan values as well .
Rami and Nurit Israelis , parents of a child killed by a kamikaze
If an Israeli child dies toay and a Palestinian child died dies tomorrow we have no solution . Our daughter was killed by terror generated by the Israeli occpation . Every victim on both sides is a victim of the occupation , The occupation is the cancer that feeds Palestinian terrorism . The death of Palestinian children in Henin was as devastating for me as the death of Israelis the previous day . Palestinians suffer and die in ezactly the same as Israelis . WE all have the sdame blood .
When we went to the Jenin refugee camp the Palestinian men and women who we met asked us to be their voice outside , in our cities , with our peiple , to tell their story . They wantad peiole to know that they are not terrorists , but rather people fighting for their liberty and for a state which would be free and independent , and would exist side by side with the state of Israel .
Najwa , 13 years old , to luisa , Jenin Camp APRIL 2002
Thank you for your help . Is true that Idon t have anything left . But Idon t need things . Idont need water . can you give me back my father ? can you give me justice ? we so badly need justice , and our right to life “
WOMEN OF JENIN – FUND RAINCG CAMPALGN
PLEASEHELP
The women of Jenin do not want to become refugees , They want justice and rhey want to be able to reconstrust their homes and everything elseelse that has been destroyed . You can help them build a future for themselves and their childran .
Contributions of any amount , however small , will go to one of three Palestinian organizations : the Women , s Union , the Women , s studies Center and the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief committee for the turion of women university students and to fund women , s groups in Jenin refugee camp and in the sueeoundig villages .
For further information , and to contribute , contact :
Donnae in Nero Via IV Novembre . 100197 Rome , Italy tel : + 06 69950217 +0669200975 fax : +06 69950200 e – mail : dinperjenin a yahoo . it www. Donneinnero . org
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