Fresh evidence of Jenin atrocities
By Phil Reeves in Jerusalem
18 April 2002Middle East <A HREF="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=286197">Fresh evidence of Jenin atrocities</A> <A HREF="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=286174">Powell leaves for
US empty-handed</A> <A HREF="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=286172">Bethlehem monks make defiant stand in Nativity siege</A> <A HREF="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=286168">Ramallah
Diary: Ruins will be rebuilt</A> <A HREF="http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=286178">Amos Oz: What we Israelis must do to bring peace
to our land</A> <A HREF="http://argument.independent.co.uk/regular_columnists/mark_steel/story.jsp?story=286182">Mark Steel: Take me to the Promised Land (the long way)</A>
Evidence of atrocities by Israeli troops in Jenin refugee camp grew yesterday
when a British pathologist said he found "highly suspicious" wounds during
the first autopsy on a victim. Derrick Pounder, professor of forensic
medicine at Dundee University, who is working with Amnesty International,
visited the ruined camp and said: "Claims that a large number of civilians
died and are under the rubble are highly credible.It is not believable that
only a few people have been killed, given the reports we have that a large
number of people were inside three and four-storey buildings when they were
demolished." The autopsy on the 38-year-old Palestinian revealed that "he was
either shot in the foot, and then in the back, or shot in the back first -
receiving a fatal wound - and his corpse was for some reason shot in the
foot," he said. "Whichever order the shots occurred in, it was highly
suspicious". As the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, left for America
yesterday, having failed to secure a ceasefire, international fury was
growing over events at Jenin. The camp, home to 13,500 refugees, was stormed
by Israeli forces a fortnight ago in what Mr Sharon called a
counter-terrorism operation against Palestinian militants. The furore has
severely damaged Israel's international standing, sending it to its lowest
point for several decades. Palestinians who survived the long battle - in
which Israeli helicopters fired rockets and machine-guns into a densely
populated area - have said the Israeli army committed many atrocities.
Witnesses have described people being shot as they surrendered; houses being
bulldozed with people inside; the use of human shields; the burial of 32
bodies in a trench, and one case of Israeli soldiers turning on the household
gas supply before tossing a stun grenade into a room full of people. Richard
Cook, head of operations for Unrwa - the UN agency for Palestinian refugees -
visited the camp yesterday. He said: "I was absolutely appalled. I
anticipated it to a degree but the devastation was much greater than I
expected." The Foreign Office said "disproportionate and excessive" force had
been used by Israel, and "clearly civilians were not properly protected".
Also in Middle East
<A HREF="story.jsp?story=286197">Fresh evidence of Jenin atrocities</A>
<A HREF="story.jsp?story=286184">Iraqis 'could turn camel virus into bio-weapon'</A>
<A HREF="story.jsp?story=286174">No ceasefire deal as Powell leaves for US empty-handed</A>
<A HREF="story.jsp?story=286172">Bethlehem monks make defiant stand in Nativity siege</A>
<A HREF="story.jsp?story=286168">Ramallah Diary: Ruins will be rebuilt, we shall overcome</A>
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