OUTSIDE JENIN, West Bank — The world finally got to see on Thursday what Israel has done in the Jenin refugee camp. Piles of rubble where homes once stood. Gaping holes rent in the sides of buildings. Electricity wires torn down and strewn amid the wreckage. Water flooding out of broken mains and running down the broken streets.
This was our first glimpse of what is left of the packed warren of narrow lanes that became the scene of the worst fighting of Israel’s onslaught in the West Bank. These are scenes of devastation that will haunt the mission of Colin Powell, who flew in Thursday.
This is the wreckage where hundreds of terrified civilians were trapped inside their homes as Israeli helicopters poured rockets all around them, ambulances not allowed to treat the wounded as they bled, where Palestinians captured by the Israelis say they were forced to strip in front of their families, where Palestinian fighters armed only with rifles resisted the Israeli attack for nine days. This is where the Israeli Army admits it killed 100 Palestinians.
For out of the misery, humiliation and death of Jenin camp, the Palestinians are already fashioning a legend. Out of the rubble staggered a 13-year-old boy yesterday. Amazingly, he was one of the last group of fighters who held out against the helicopters and the tanks. And already the stories are being passed from Palestinian to Palestinian: how the 13-year-old fought because his father was killed fighting the last time Israeli forces moved into the camp in March; how, when they ran out of ammunition, the fighters started throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers.
“I feel very proud of what the fighters did in Jenin,” Deya Al-Ahmad, a Palestinian in a neighboring village said. “I will tell my children this story, and I hope they will tell it to their grandchildren.” The Palestinians wrested this from a battle in which those detained tell horrific tales of their treatment by the Israelis.
One told us he was forced to strip completely naked, and act as a human shield, standing with an Israeli soldier behind him resting his gun on his shoulder. Another told us when he asked for a drink the soldiers forced a stick into his mouth. Then, he said, they brought him water that tasted of urine.
The shots were still echoing over the camp yesterday, even as Israeli forces claimed the battle was all but over. A few pockets of Palestinian fighters were holding out, though they had no chance of winning.
“I don’t believe this is a victory for Israel,” said Rashid Hassan. “Because a victory would mean that they had achieved their goals and solved their problem once and for all. But I think the problem is going to start again for Israel. If they killed so many people, the next generation will fight even harder.” Among the refugees who fled Jenin camp, we found a teenager who would not give his name. He had been separated from his family and could not find them. He told us he was going to become a suicide bomber.
The Palestinians are claiming that far more than 100 of their number were killed in Jenin. Many of those who fled say they saw civilians, including women, carelessly cut down.
The last thing Israel wants the world to see are the bodies of women in the streets. Rumors abound that the bodies are being hidden, taken away in trucks and buried by Israeli soldiers.
“I appeal to the Americans who say they are kind and educated, to recognize that we are not terrorists, we are occupied,” said Fathieyeh Asfour, a teacher and wife of Jenin’s Palestinian civil defense director. “They must intervene. Our entire population has been under siege for 10 days now,” she said. “The Israelis have vandalized and ravaged our streets. They have forced out camp residents in order to destroy houses. We’re not allowed to get to the camp to bury the bodies.” She added: “It is Israeli terrorist acts against our population which the world should notice and which will create a new generation of suicide bombers in the future.” None of the accounts given could be independently verified because the army has declared the area off-limits to journalists. (The Independent)
