-Caveat Lector- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20527-2002Jun20.html
In Jenin, Hospital Officials Recount a Costly Operation Israeli Troops Accused of Destruction By John Ward Anderson and Molly Moore Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, June 21, 2002; Page A16 JENIN, West Bank, June 20 -- A team of three doctors huddled over a table in al-Razi hospital's administrative building, performing a delicate, time-consuming task. Between them was a roll of Scotch tape, and they were piecing together jagged shreds of money that they said was torn apart when Israeli soldiers blew up the hospital safe. Fixing the money was the day's most important operation, since seven of the hospital's 10 patients had checked out after the soldiers ordered the administration building evacuated. Hospital workers said the Israeli troops threw a grenade into the building's foyer and sprayed it with automatic-rifle fire, blew up the safe and the door to the electrical wiring closet in the basement, and demolished the laundry room with heavy machine-gun fire that ripped through the wall from a tank outside. The rounds destroyed a $13,600 washer, dryer and iron from Denmark that were so new they were still in their shipping containers. "A soldier pounded the [laundry] machine and said, 'This is not more important than 20 persons killed in Jerusalem,' " referring to a suicide bus attack Tuesday, according to Ali Jabarin, vice chairman of the hospital. "He was a terrorist, but you are not a terrorist," Jabarin said he replied, pleading with troops not to damage the building and its contents. "You are a soldier . . . and this is a hospital." Jenin, a city of about 60,000, was among six West Bank cities Israeli forces have reentered over the past two days after two suicide bombings in Jerusalem left 26 Israelis dead and about 100 injured. Following the first blast, the Israeli government announced a new policy of reoccupying and maintaining control of Palestinian-administered territory "as long as terror continues." Jenin, which has been the point of origin for a number of suicide bombers, was taken over and put under a 24-hour curfew on Wednesday. Over the past two days, troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers have also moved into parts of Bethlehem and the adjoining Deheishe refugee camp, the community of Beitunia on the outskirts of Ramallah, suburban areas of Nablus and Tulkarm, and Qalqilyah. "Forces will stay in the cities until they achieve their operational aims," the army said in a statement. Tanks and armored personnel carriers patrolled Jenin's deserted streets today, chewing up the pavement and chasing back the few residents -- mostly young boys -- who dared venture out-of-doors. Barrages of heavy machine-gun fire frequently reverberated across the city, punctuated by the occasional boom of tank blasts. The acrid smell of gunpowder filled the city center. [Palestinian officials said Israeli troops blew up a building early Friday, causing a nearby building to collapse, killing a 14-year-old Palestinian, news services reported.] Residents said hundreds of men between the ages of 15 and 50 have been detained for security and identification checks since Wednesday. Many have been released, but others are being held for further interrogation, they said. Hundreds of men from Jenin and the adjacent refugee camp underwent the same treatment in April, when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered a broad offensive across the West Bank in response to a bombing that killed 26 people. Haitham Awad Abuzeineh, 37, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp interviewed by phone, said he was one of the many men who turned themselves in after Israeli forces drove through the streets in jeeps with loudspeakers, ordering men to report to the local boys school for a security check. He said he was held for about 13 hours while soldiers checked computer records. When they discovered that he had no record, he said, they released him. Those with records were held for further interrogation, he said, adding that while he was not mistreated, he heard loud screams from those undergoing questioning. Residents said Israeli tanks and soldiers have been entering Jenin at will for months, but a full and permanent reoccupation would make matters even worse. "People are becoming fed up with the situation," said Mahmoud Subaneh, 47, an out-of-work bus driver who was interviewed on his patio overlooking the main street as two tanks clanked by, one pointing the barrel of its cannon at his home. "They cannot work, they have no money, and even when the shop owners open in the morning, the tanks force them to close." But if Israeli troops stay for the long term, he said, "Yes, life will get worse. Then all the people will become suicide bombers. I can take it for two or three years, but when I find that I can't bring food home to my son, I will become a suicide bomber. "As long as there is an occupation, and there are Israelis who kill us, the suicide bombing should not stop," he added. At the fire station down the street, Mazen Dalbeh, the chief, said tanks crisscross the town around the clock. "If there are people, they shoot at them, whether they are young or old, especially in the center of town," he said. The station's firetrucks were among the targets over the past two days, as they had been during the attacks in April, Dalbeh explained, circling two pumpers and pointing at shattered windows and bullet holes in the sides and engines. The only explanation, he said, "is they don't want anyone to move, and they don't want anyone to live." "This is just humanitarian work. It's not a symbol of anything," he said, rebutting the idea that the firefighters were shot at by Israelis for being members of a Palestinian institution. "We have only our sirens and lights trying to help people. . . . There are occasions when we've even rescued Israelis. This is our oath." At al-Razi hospital, doctors and administrators were doing accounting work: about $5,000 in Jordanian dinars destroyed, about $10,000 salvageable. Glass was strewn throughout the first floor of the administration building, across the street from the 30-bed hospital. Doors were smashed. Bullet holes riddled the ceilings. Jabarin, the hospital's vice chairman, said two tanks stationed themselves between the hospital and administration building at about 1 a.m. Wednesday. About nine hours later, he said, five jeeps and 20 soldiers arrived. The soldiers said they wanted to investigate the administrative building, Jabarin said. He added that it took the soldiers about seven tries before they used enough plastic explosives to blow up the safe. He said they refused to wait for a hospital worker who had the combination. While they worked, Jabarin said, he asked one of the soldiers why the army did not allow ambulances and medical personnel to move freely about the city. "He said, 'When you stop blowing up buses, then we will let your ambulances move freely, and you must change [Yasser] Arafat,' " leader of the Palestinian Authority. An army spokesman in Jerusalem, Capt. Jacob Dallal, said he had no reports of any military operations in or near al-Razi hospital. "There was no shooting to the best of our knowledge around the hospital . . . in the last 24 hours," he said today. Sharon's announced policy of capturing and holding Palestinian territory has come under criticism from his coalition partners. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who heads the Labor Party, said he opposes long-term reoccupation of Palestinian lands. "I didn't agree in any forum to punitive occupation," Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio. "When you speak of occupation, the meaning is that you start dealing with everything from health to sewage. That's not the intention. The intention is a presence on the ground in light of the present reality . . . for as much time as necessary." © 2002 The Washington Post Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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