Israel troops in Jenin again. Evidence to be liquidated

Israeli tanks entered the Palestinian city of Jenin before dawn Friday, news agencies reporting on the Mideast events informed today. Witnesses say about skirmish between the Israeli troops and Palestinian militants. No victims have been yet reported. The Israeli army declined any comments on the information.

The world knew about Jenin after events that occurred in April. That Israel’s offensive against Palestinian militants in the refugee camp of Jenin killed at least 52 people (Palestinian sources report the number of victims is at least 150-200 civilians) and over 100 wounded. The UN wanted to send a fact-finding mission to Jenin, but Israel laid down a number of requirements for strict observance of the UN mission. Israel’s ultimatum was turned down, and the fact-finding mission was dissolved without even starting its work.

Today Israel troops have entered Jenin once again. It was not a pressing action at all, as the Israeli army has recently changed its military tactics on the PA territory. Israel gave up large-scale actions on the West Bank. Now it focuses on quick raids on Palestine-controlled territories in searches of militants. However, this very operation is very likely to have greater objectives. An idea comes to mind at once, is it possible that Israeli troops have come to Jenin for a better mopping after themselves? As of today the Jenin problem is not settled yet.

As it became known, the UN leadership started development of a report on Jenin refugee camp events. Sources in the UN report, the report will be issued within six weeks. In the words of Fred Eckhard, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s spokesman, letters are to be sent soon to the Israel government and the PA administration with an inquiry for “all necessary information about incidents during the Operation Defensive Shield on the West Bank.” Fred Eckhard stressed at that, “no provisional information would be published until Kofi Annan makes up final variant of the report.”

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/05/17/41254.html