OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 3 March —The European Union called on Israel yesterday to withdraw its forces immediately from two West Bank refugee camps, ending raids in which they killed around 30 Palestinians, and sowed fear and panic as soldiers went from house to house by smashing their way through the walls.
The Israeli army pulled back to the edge of a camp in Jenin, but appeared poised to return. By late night troops were still inside Balata camp in Nablus, where 20,000 people are crammed into one square mile.
Doubts abound over what the raids have achieved.
The army said it had seized dozens of weapons and bombs and bomb-making equipment. But most of the gunmen from the camps appear to have escaped. Far from reducing Palestinian violence, the raids may well be counterproductive from Israel’s viewpoint, strengthening support for Yasser Arafat and deepening resistance to Israel. “This was stupid,” said Sami Nashasha, a spokesman for UNWRA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. “It rallies factions who don’t see eye-to-eye around one cause, and it has aroused the powerful emotions that surround the 1948 refugee issue.” The Israeli Army was unrepentant, saying it would “continue to operate every place it finds fit in order to protect Israeli civilians and soldiers”. It denied targeting civilians.
Palestinian witnesses told a different story. They described how Apache helicopters peppered homes with machine-gun fire, and soldiers blasted a path through the tightly packed homes of Balata by knocking down the walls rather than using the maze of alleys. In Jenin, tanks flattened parked cars in their path.
After the army pulled back from Jenin camp, residents discovered the body of a 22-year-old man, Muhammad Mufid, who had been shot through the head. The incident raised suspicions that he had become the latest in a list of more than 70 Palestinians to be assassinated by Israelis in the last 17 months.
Spain, which holds the EU presidency, voiced “special concern” over the serious consequences that could stem from the raids. It urged Israel not to repeat such operations. This was the latest in a chorus of protests. UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson has accused Israel of showing total disregard for international human rights. (The Independent)
