Amnesty International (“AI”) Report on Jenin and Nablus – Just an attempt to support AI’s earlier rush to judgment.
Amnesty International’s recent report looks at the event sin April in an asymmetric fashion, just looking tat Israel’s actions without presenting the context. It condemns Israel for demolishing houses without mentioning that the Arabs have themselves admitted to having had mined them. Israel is condemned for making prisoners strip to their underwear without speaking of the use of suicide bombs. AI does not seem to realize that Israel was in an armed conflict and reaches unfounded conclusions about military decisions:
From the executive summary of the report. http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/MDE151492002?OpenDocument
Why does AI report in this one sided manner. I could claim bias but perhaps we should also do a bit of deconstruction first and look what AI said previously about Israel’s actions in Jenin and Nablus. By analyzing these previous statements, perhaps we will see that unjustified statements were made by AI then which now need to be defended and justified, that in fact when AI cried wolf, there was a wolf. I went and looked at all of AI’s statements in the month of April on Israel’s actions covered by the report. It becomes evident that AI condemned Israel back in April for mass murder based on false evidence and now try to justify these lies by saying that Israel may not have massacred people but they did a lot of horrible things. Bold and brackets below are mine.
April 3, 2002
“it is becoming difficult to verify reports of possible extrajudicial executions including of people under arrest. However, it appears that five Palestinian policemen were extrajudicially executed. They were shot dead at close range after they had been wounded on Friday.”[This report was later shown to be untrue]
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150302002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 5, 2002
“There are the Palestinians, including medical workers, who have been killed unlawfully by the Israeli Defence Forces.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150332002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 10, 2002
“Reports suggest that 200 people may have been killed in Jenin. Wanton destruction of houses is continuing and ambulances are still not allowed to move freely in Jenin, Nablus and most areas of the West Bank.
"We fear that the gravest abuses against the Palestinian population are taking place behind closed doors as humanitarian agencies and the media are being barred access to most of the Occupied Territories," Amnesty International said.
"Families whose relatives have been arrested often do not know if they are alive or dead. Reports of human rights abuses including extrajudicial executions cannot be verified," the organization added, renewing its call for human rights monitors to be immediately deployed in the region. ”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150442002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 10, 2002
“Amnesty International renewed its call on the international community to take immediate action to stop horrific human rights abuses in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
"Reports keep coming in about unlawful killings, especially from Jenin and Nablus where the Israeli Defence Forces have reportedly killed scores of Palestinians using tank rounds and missiles from Apache helicopters," the organization said. ”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150402002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 10, 2002
“Amnesty International is concerned that scores of Palestinians who posed no evident threat to the lives of others have been killed during Israel's military incursions into towns and villages in the Occupied Territories since 27 February 2002.
. . . As one resident said to Amnesty International: "The camp smells of death. Bodies are buried under the rubble of houses; others were crushed by tanks and others still lie in the streets."”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150452002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 15, 2002
“"We fear that if investigations are not carried out at once to clarify the circumstances of the killings of hundreds of Palestinians in Jenin refugee camp, crucial evidence may be destroyed as Israel continues to impede access to the camp to the outside world," the organization's delegates said.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150482002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 16, 2002
“The Amnesty International delegation had gone to Jenin because of reports that a major humanitarian and human rights disaster was occurring in the camp with thousands of people still trapped without food or water in an area flattened and littered with debris and decomposing bodies.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150502002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 17, 2002
“Speaking from inside Jenin Refugee Camp, Amnesty International delegate Javier Zuniga said, "This is one of the worst scenes of devastation I have ever witnessed. It is almost impossible to conceive that what was once a town is now a lunar landscape. There is a real possibility that people are still alive under the rubble of their former homes, one of our colleagues from a local human rights organisation received a phone call from a family of 10 trapped below ground and asking for help, yet there is no evidence of concerted efforts to search for and rescue survivors. [phone call was not true]"
. . . Scores more bodies are believed to remain in the refugee camp, mainly in the rubble of bulldozed houses.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150522002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 23, 2002
“Amnesty International's delegates have just returned from Jenin, and found credible evidence of serious breaches of human rights and humanitarian law. These include unlawful killings, excessive use of lethal force, and failure to give civilians warning before attacks by helicopters. . . .
Given the conflicting claims about the numbers and nature of killings [oh, the truth starts creeping in], the circumstances in which a range of human rights abuses occurred and the complexity of legal issues involved, the team should be provided with additional expert assistance to enable it to conduct an authoritative and thorough inquiry.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150592002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 26, 2002
“Amnesty International estimates that since the start of the Intifada in September 2000, at least 1,200 Palestinian adults, 260 Palestinian children, 260 Israeli and foreign civilian adults and 52 Israeli children have been killed.” [This under reports the Israelis killed by more than a couple of hundred]
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150622002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 29, 2002
“UN monitors should be put in place urgently in Jenin mandated to report on any tampering of evidence [no tampering by Israel ever shown. there was tampering by the Arabs which AI has not bothered to report]that might be needed by the fact-finding mission in carrying out its work.
She also clarified that there is no legal definition in international law of the word 'massacre' and that its use in the current circumstances is not helpful.[does not say there was no evidence for a massacre just that we should not use that word”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150712002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 29, 2002
“The dead and wounded remained in houses and on the streets. Part of the camp is now a vast compacted pile of rubble, more than 100 houses bulldozed, apparently after Palestinian armed groups had surrendered and ceased resistance.
There is no conceivable military reason which would justify such devastation - it appears to be a clear breach of international humanitarian law," commented Ms Khan [Secretary General of Amnesty International].[if AI had already reached this conclusion, what is the need for the report. It seems that in WWII there was a lot more devastation, I guess military expert Khan would say that there was no justification for that either]
"Victims of human rights abuses, Palestinians and Israelis, are entitled to justice. Establishing the truth is the first step to accountability and justice. Justice and respect for human rights, including the rule of law, are the cornerstones to any durable solution to the spiralling violence," said Ms Khan. [In AI’s report on suicide bombing, AI, which seems to think of itself as a quasi-judicial, investigatory agency, does not bother researching the links of the PA to suicide bombing]”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150632002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 29, 2002
”Having witnessed the devastation in Jenin refugee camp yesterday, Irene Khan said that she was very concerned about the safety of the people of Hebron and expressed fears of a repetition of Jenin.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150642002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
These false allegations were never retracted by AI. In the new report AI attempts to explain these falsehoods without referring to them directly:
"During the fighting Palestinian residents and Palestinian and foreign journalists and others outside the camp saw hundreds of missiles being fired into the houses of the camp from Apache helicopters flying sortie after sortie. The sight of the firepower being thrown at Jenin refugee camp led those who witnessed the air raids, including military experts and the media, to believe that scores, at least, of Palestinians had been killed. [He Arabs said thousands, which was reported, AI used the 200 number] The tight cordon round the refugee camp and the main hospital from 4-17 April meant that the outside world had no means of knowing what was going on inside the refugee camp; a few journalists were able to slip into the area at risk to their lives after 13 April, but only saw a small portion of the camp, including some dead bodies before leaving. Those within the camp reachable by telephone were confined to their homes and could not tell what was happening. It was in these circumstances that stories of a "massacre" spread. Even the IDF leadership appeared unclear as to how many Palestinians had died: General Ron Kitrey said on 12 April that hundreds had died in Jenin before correcting himself a few hours later saying that hundreds had died or been wounded. " http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/MDE151432002?OpenDocument
In fact it was primarily as a result of lies spread by the Arabs and ought by people like AI who wanted to believe them that word of a 'massacre' spread not because of what outsiders saw. Perhaps these false reports fit in with what was seen but it was there false reports that people wanted to believe that were the key. The same people who told stories of massacres, now that no bodies have been found, are relied on by AI to show that grave human rights abuses occurred.
Amnesty International’s recent report looks at the event sin April in an asymmetric fashion, just looking tat Israel’s actions without presenting the context. It condemns Israel for demolishing houses without mentioning that the Arabs have themselves admitted to having had mined them. Israel is condemned for making prisoners strip to their underwear without speaking of the use of suicide bombs. AI does not seem to realize that Israel was in an armed conflict and reaches unfounded conclusions about military decisions:
"There is total devastation, no whole standing house, as though someone has bulldozed a whole community. If anyone was in a house they could not have survived… There is nothing but rubble and people walking around looking dazed. There is a smell of death under the rubble."
These are the words of an Amnesty International delegate who entered Jenin refugee camp minutes after the IDF lifted the blockade on 17 April 2002.
Amnesty International delegates witnessed the effects of the demolition of Palestinian homes, especially in Jenin, and concluded that had been no absolute military necessity in the wholesale destruction. IDF forces that entered Jenin and Nablus brought tanks or bulldozers through narrow roads, stripping off the fronts of houses. Sometimes the fronts of houses were stripped off in wider roads. ”
From the executive summary of the report. http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/MDE151492002?OpenDocument
Why does AI report in this one sided manner. I could claim bias but perhaps we should also do a bit of deconstruction first and look what AI said previously about Israel’s actions in Jenin and Nablus. By analyzing these previous statements, perhaps we will see that unjustified statements were made by AI then which now need to be defended and justified, that in fact when AI cried wolf, there was a wolf. I went and looked at all of AI’s statements in the month of April on Israel’s actions covered by the report. It becomes evident that AI condemned Israel back in April for mass murder based on false evidence and now try to justify these lies by saying that Israel may not have massacred people but they did a lot of horrible things. Bold and brackets below are mine.
April 3, 2002
“it is becoming difficult to verify reports of possible extrajudicial executions including of people under arrest. However, it appears that five Palestinian policemen were extrajudicially executed. They were shot dead at close range after they had been wounded on Friday.”[This report was later shown to be untrue]
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150302002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 5, 2002
“There are the Palestinians, including medical workers, who have been killed unlawfully by the Israeli Defence Forces.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150332002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 10, 2002
“Reports suggest that 200 people may have been killed in Jenin. Wanton destruction of houses is continuing and ambulances are still not allowed to move freely in Jenin, Nablus and most areas of the West Bank.
"We fear that the gravest abuses against the Palestinian population are taking place behind closed doors as humanitarian agencies and the media are being barred access to most of the Occupied Territories," Amnesty International said.
"Families whose relatives have been arrested often do not know if they are alive or dead. Reports of human rights abuses including extrajudicial executions cannot be verified," the organization added, renewing its call for human rights monitors to be immediately deployed in the region. ”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150442002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 10, 2002
“Amnesty International renewed its call on the international community to take immediate action to stop horrific human rights abuses in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
"Reports keep coming in about unlawful killings, especially from Jenin and Nablus where the Israeli Defence Forces have reportedly killed scores of Palestinians using tank rounds and missiles from Apache helicopters," the organization said. ”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150402002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 10, 2002
“Amnesty International is concerned that scores of Palestinians who posed no evident threat to the lives of others have been killed during Israel's military incursions into towns and villages in the Occupied Territories since 27 February 2002.
. . . As one resident said to Amnesty International: "The camp smells of death. Bodies are buried under the rubble of houses; others were crushed by tanks and others still lie in the streets."”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150452002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 15, 2002
“"We fear that if investigations are not carried out at once to clarify the circumstances of the killings of hundreds of Palestinians in Jenin refugee camp, crucial evidence may be destroyed as Israel continues to impede access to the camp to the outside world," the organization's delegates said.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150482002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 16, 2002
“The Amnesty International delegation had gone to Jenin because of reports that a major humanitarian and human rights disaster was occurring in the camp with thousands of people still trapped without food or water in an area flattened and littered with debris and decomposing bodies.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150502002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 17, 2002
“Speaking from inside Jenin Refugee Camp, Amnesty International delegate Javier Zuniga said, "This is one of the worst scenes of devastation I have ever witnessed. It is almost impossible to conceive that what was once a town is now a lunar landscape. There is a real possibility that people are still alive under the rubble of their former homes, one of our colleagues from a local human rights organisation received a phone call from a family of 10 trapped below ground and asking for help, yet there is no evidence of concerted efforts to search for and rescue survivors. [phone call was not true]"
. . . Scores more bodies are believed to remain in the refugee camp, mainly in the rubble of bulldozed houses.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150522002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 23, 2002
“Amnesty International's delegates have just returned from Jenin, and found credible evidence of serious breaches of human rights and humanitarian law. These include unlawful killings, excessive use of lethal force, and failure to give civilians warning before attacks by helicopters. . . .
Given the conflicting claims about the numbers and nature of killings [oh, the truth starts creeping in], the circumstances in which a range of human rights abuses occurred and the complexity of legal issues involved, the team should be provided with additional expert assistance to enable it to conduct an authoritative and thorough inquiry.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150592002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 26, 2002
“Amnesty International estimates that since the start of the Intifada in September 2000, at least 1,200 Palestinian adults, 260 Palestinian children, 260 Israeli and foreign civilian adults and 52 Israeli children have been killed.” [This under reports the Israelis killed by more than a couple of hundred]
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150622002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 29, 2002
“UN monitors should be put in place urgently in Jenin mandated to report on any tampering of evidence [no tampering by Israel ever shown. there was tampering by the Arabs which AI has not bothered to report]that might be needed by the fact-finding mission in carrying out its work.
She also clarified that there is no legal definition in international law of the word 'massacre' and that its use in the current circumstances is not helpful.[does not say there was no evidence for a massacre just that we should not use that word”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150712002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 29, 2002
“The dead and wounded remained in houses and on the streets. Part of the camp is now a vast compacted pile of rubble, more than 100 houses bulldozed, apparently after Palestinian armed groups had surrendered and ceased resistance.
There is no conceivable military reason which would justify such devastation - it appears to be a clear breach of international humanitarian law," commented Ms Khan [Secretary General of Amnesty International].[if AI had already reached this conclusion, what is the need for the report. It seems that in WWII there was a lot more devastation, I guess military expert Khan would say that there was no justification for that either]
"Victims of human rights abuses, Palestinians and Israelis, are entitled to justice. Establishing the truth is the first step to accountability and justice. Justice and respect for human rights, including the rule of law, are the cornerstones to any durable solution to the spiralling violence," said Ms Khan. [In AI’s report on suicide bombing, AI, which seems to think of itself as a quasi-judicial, investigatory agency, does not bother researching the links of the PA to suicide bombing]”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150632002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
April 29, 2002
”Having witnessed the devastation in Jenin refugee camp yesterday, Irene Khan said that she was very concerned about the safety of the people of Hebron and expressed fears of a repetition of Jenin.”
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE150642002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
These false allegations were never retracted by AI. In the new report AI attempts to explain these falsehoods without referring to them directly:
"During the fighting Palestinian residents and Palestinian and foreign journalists and others outside the camp saw hundreds of missiles being fired into the houses of the camp from Apache helicopters flying sortie after sortie. The sight of the firepower being thrown at Jenin refugee camp led those who witnessed the air raids, including military experts and the media, to believe that scores, at least, of Palestinians had been killed. [He Arabs said thousands, which was reported, AI used the 200 number] The tight cordon round the refugee camp and the main hospital from 4-17 April meant that the outside world had no means of knowing what was going on inside the refugee camp; a few journalists were able to slip into the area at risk to their lives after 13 April, but only saw a small portion of the camp, including some dead bodies before leaving. Those within the camp reachable by telephone were confined to their homes and could not tell what was happening. It was in these circumstances that stories of a "massacre" spread. Even the IDF leadership appeared unclear as to how many Palestinians had died: General Ron Kitrey said on 12 April that hundreds had died in Jenin before correcting himself a few hours later saying that hundreds had died or been wounded. " http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/MDE151432002?OpenDocument
In fact it was primarily as a result of lies spread by the Arabs and ought by people like AI who wanted to believe them that word of a 'massacre' spread not because of what outsiders saw. Perhaps these false reports fit in with what was seen but it was there false reports that people wanted to believe that were the key. The same people who told stories of massacres, now that no bodies have been found, are relied on by AI to show that grave human rights abuses occurred.
posted by Zion @ 11:10 AM
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