Israel and the Occupied TerritoriesShielded from scrutiny: IDF violations in
Jenin and NablusIntroduction "IDF soldiers and officers have been given clear
orders: to enter cities and villages which have become havens for terrorists;
to catch and arrest terrorists and, primarily, their dispatchers and those
who finance and support them; to confiscate weapons intended to be used
against Israeli citizens; to expose and destroy terrorist facilities and
explosives, laboratories, weapons production factories and secret
installations.
The orders are clear: target and paralyse anyone who takes up weapons and
tries to oppose our troops, resists them or endangers them - and to avoid
harming the civilian population." [Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister,
before the Knesset, 8 April 2002] "I have been in urban environments where
house to house fighting has happened: Rwanda, Nicaragua, El Salvador,
Colombia, and a city struck by a massive earthquake: Mexico city.
The devastation seen in Jenin camp had the worst elements of both situations.
Houses not just bulldozed or dynamited but reduced almost to dust by the
repeated and deliberate coming and goings of bulldozers and tanks. Houses
pierced from wall to wall by tank or helicopter gun ships. Houses cut down
the middle as if by giant scissors. Inside, an eerie vision of dining or
bedrooms almost intact. No signs whatsoever that that bedroom or dining room
or indeed the house had been used by fighters. Gratuitous, wanton,
unnecessary destruction. Children's prams, toys, beds everywhere. Where were
those children? I do not know, but I do know where the survivors will be in
the future." [Javier Zuniga Amnesty International's Director of Regional
Strategy who entered Jenin refugee camp on 17 April 2002]
On 29 March 2002 the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) launched a new offensive,
Operation Defensive Shield, in Palestinian residential areas. According to
the IDF, the purpose of the offensive, like the incursions into refugee camps
which preceded it in March and the occupation of the West Bank which followed
in June, was to eradicate the infrastructure of "terrorism", in particular
following Palestinian armed groups' killing of 80 Israeli civilians between 1
March and 1 April.(1) The offensive began with an attack on President Yasser
Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.
The IDF then entered Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Qalqiliya from 1 April, followed
by Jenin and Nablus from the nights of 3 and 4 April. They declared areas
"closed military areas", barring access to the outside world. The IDF cut
water and electricity in most areas, and imposed strict curfews on residents
within the towns.
In Jenin and Nablus a tight cordon of tanks, armoured personnel carriers and
soldiers was thrown around the areas where the IDF carried out operations:
Jenin refugee camp and Nablus old city. Houses were intensively attacked by
missiles from Apache helicopters.
After the first day those killed or wounded in Jenin and Nablus were left
without burial or medical treatment. Bodies remained in the street as
residents who ventured outside to collect or attend to the dead or injured
were shot. Tanks travelling through narrow streets ruthlessly sliced off the
outer walls of houses; much destruction of property by tanks was wanton and
unnecessary. In one appalling and extensive operation, the IDF demolished,
destroyed by explosives, or flattened by army bulldozers, a large residential
area of Jenin refugee camp, much of it after the fighting had apparently
ended. In the four months between 27 February and the end of June 2002 - the
period of the two major IDF offensives and the reoccupation of the West Bank
- the IDF killed nearly 500 Palestinians.
Although many Palestinians died during armed confrontations many of these IDF
killings appeared to be unlawful and at least 16% of the victims, more than
70, were children. More than 8,000 Palestinians detained in mass round-ups
over the same period were routinely subjected to ill-treatment(2) and more
than 3,000 Palestinian homes were demolished. The number of Israelis killed
by Palestinian armed groups and individuals also increased: the number
doubled during the month of March during the first Israeli incursions; in the
four months up to the end of June 2002 more than 250 Israelis had been
killed, including 164 civilians; 32 of those killed were children.(3)
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