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Israel 'Morally Repugnant,' U.N. Envoy Says |
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By Nazir Majally JERUSAELM, Apr 19, 2002 -- The United Nations' Middle East envoy yesterday denounced Israel as "morally repugnant" for blocking aid to the wounded at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. In contrast, US President George W. Bush lauded Israel for "meeting the timetable" it promised for withdrawing from the West Bank even as troops stayed put in all reoccupied Palestinian towns. And Bush warned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that he "will now hold him to account". At the United Nations, the United States threatened to veto any resolution calling for a UN probe into the Jenin massacre. UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen toured the devastated Jenin camp and said afterward: "It is totally unacceptable and horrific beyond belief." "It is totally unacceptable that the government of Israel for 11 days did not allow search and rescue teams to come. This is morally repugnant," said Roed-Larsen. "The stench of death is horrible," he said. "We have expert people here who have been in war zones and earthquakes and they say they have never seen anything like it." The Palestinians say around 500 people were massacred in Jenin, many of them women and children, and that some were summarily executed after surrendering. Bush indicated he was satisfied with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal of troops from some Palestinian villages. "Israel started withdrawing quickly after our call, from smaller cities on the West Bank. History will show that they've responded," said Bush. Sharon "gave me a timetable and he's met the timetable." "I do believe Ariel Sharon is a man of peace. I'm confident he wants Israel to be able to exist at peace with its neighbors," added Bush, who discussed the timetable in a Monday telephone call with the Israeli leader. But he had harsh words for Arafat. "Terrorist acts will forever and constantly undermine the capacity for peace," he said. Arafat "did condemn terror and we will now hold him to account," the president added, demanding that actions follow words. The Palestinians reacted angrily to those comments, with chief negotiator Saeb Erekat saying they amounted to "a gift, a reward from Bush for Sharon's policy of state terrorism and war crimes." Diplomats said the United States told other members of the Security Council that it would veto an Arab-sponsored call for a UN investigation of deaths in the Jenin refugee camp. The Council scheduled a public debate to start at 1900 GMT on the crisis in the Palestinian territories, but it was unclear whether Arab states would push for an immediate vote on their draft resolution. Two Council diplomats said that the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, gave "a loud and clear" message to the Council that he would veto the draft. Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier asked the Council in a private session to consider sending an armed multinational force to help end violence in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory. An Israeli government spokesman later rejected Annan's appeal, saying such a force was inappropriate and would be in danger from Palestinian fighters. Annan quoted Terje Roed-Larsen as saying the scene at the Jenin camp was "horrific". "They witnessed people digging out corpses from the rubble with their bare hands," Annan said. "The destruction is massive and the impact on the civilian population is devastating." Asked later whether he supported the idea of an official inquiry, Annan told reporters: "We haven't initiated a formal investigation as such; for the moment, I would prefer we concentrate on getting assistance to those in need." He said: "A time will come for the investigation to be undertaken. That is not my first priority; at this stage it is to get help to the people, to get the dead buried and move the wounded." At the Jenin refugee camp, residents gouged at a wasteland of destruction in a desperate search for missing loved ones as the stench of rotting corpses wafted over the scene. The Israeli Army admitted late yesterday that "dozens" were buried under the rubble of about 100 houses destroyed in the camp. "Until now, we have transferred 25 bodies to the Palestinians. We believe that without doubt there are dozens of other dead buried under the ruins," said army spokeswoman Sharon Feingold. "There has not been a massacre, but it could be sadly true that there are innocent civilians among the dead." "During the operation, we called for the population to evacuate the camp but some stayed voluntarily or were forced to remain," Feingold added. © Arab News, 2002. Distributed in partnership with Globalvision News Network (www.gvnews.net). All rights reserved.
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