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Topic: Coming out with their hands up

topic by Seth Sims 4/11/2002 (23:45)

reply top Analysis / Coming out with their hands up By Ze'ev Schiff The battle of the Jenin refugee camp did not end precisely the way the Palestinians promised, with a suicidal battle to the last bullet. Instead, the remaining armed Palestinians in the camp asked through the Americans and Arab MKs, that their lives be spared and when the Israel Defense Forces acceded, 32 armed Palestinians handed over their weapons and surrendered. The change came after the ambush that killed 13 IDF troops when the army began using more massive force, including demolishing houses on their way toward the armed men deep inside the camp. The Palestinian fighters reached the conclusion that under the circumstances, the IDF would not accept the surrender of those who wanted to give up, so apparently by phone they contacted officials from the Palestinian Authority, who made the approach regarding a safe surrender. The Americans made the official request to Israel and that was followed by separate appeals from two Arab MKs with close ties to Arafat and the PA. The Americans were told that if the Palestinians who fought in Jenin were ready to surrender, they would have to obey the orders of the IDF negotiating team and leave their positions with their hands raised. The orders went out over loudspeakers -and after a while, the last 32 Palestinian fighters came out, handed over their weapons and surrendered, filmed by the IDF. Immediately afterward, the IDF allowed Red Crescent ambulances into the camp. IDF Home Front civil engineering experts also were sent in to help find bodies of people buried under the rubble. The first examination of the camp uncovered 80 bodies, which were immediately evacuated. Many were fighters who were killed. The IDF estimates that some 200 Palestinians were killed, and there is no doubt that among them are civilians who were caught in the crossfire and either weren't allowed to leave by the fighters, or were unable to leave because of the intense combat. Some are surely buried beneath buildings that collapsed. It's also clear that some tried to leave the camp but were killed by the dozens of booby-traps the fighters prepared for the IDF incursion, much the way the 13 soldiers fell earlier this week. Presumably the IDF will be in no hurry to leave Jenin before it finishes scouring the city for wanted terror suspects. But after the fall of Jenin's refugee camp and the surrender of the last group, the Palestinians will make an effort to prove the suicide attacks continue from Jenin, just as they did in the past. That is why the Palestinians announced on Wednesday that the suicide bomber of the bus at the Yagur junction came from Jenin. Indeed, he originally was from Jenin, but the security services believe he may have left the territories with his explosives belt before the operation began, and hid out inside Israel in a Galilee village, before finally getting on the fateful bus on its way to Jerusalem.

reply by anti_seth 4/11/2002 (24:37)

reply top Now that you mentioned it, ................... Analysis: A shameful chapter in Israel's history By Ze'ev Schiff From Ha'aretz Sunday, January 13, 2002 In the course of the armed conflict that Yasser Arafat has forced onto Israel, situations sometimes arise in which there is no alternative but to use an iron fist against those who would strike at Israel and its citizens. There are also acts of self-defense that are part and parcel of any conflict. In such military actions, innocent civilians are occasionally the victims, but generally, these are not the intended targets of military strikes. This is what distinguishes between legitimate military actions and acts of terror that are designed to strike at innocent civilians. In the course of the armed conflict with the Palestinians, there are also examples of folly and crude abuse on the part of individual soldiers, who believe themselves to be above the law. Examples can been seen at certain roadblocks, set up to prevent terrorist infiltrations, suicide attacks and so on. The Israel Defense Force's command usually fights to stamp out such phenomena. But the events at a refugee camp near Rafah, where the IDF demolished the home of 58 Palestinian families and left hundreds without a roof over their heads, is destruction itself, an action that reflects shamefully on the IDF and us all. It was an act of undisguised ruthlessness, a military act devoid of humanitarian and diplomatic logic, based on simplistic and overgeneralized operational considerations. In this dispute, Israel wants to prove to the Palestinians that we will not be subdued by violence. But our actions in Rafah are nothing more than superfluous violence against civilians, among them children and the elderly, which will only serve to encourage revenge attacks by desperate people. The go-ahead for the action was given from the top of the political and military hierarchy. Not one voice could be heard opposing the action, and the only restriction in place was the defense minister's order that no civilian lives were taken. The demolitions themselves, on the other hand, were allowed to go on unrestricted. The events at Rafah happened one day after a Hamas cell, one of whose members was apparently also a member of the Palestinian police force, attacked an IDF outpost killing four Israeli soldiers. The outpost, which seems surprisingly derelict, given its permanent status, is some way off from the place where the IDF carried out its punitive action in Rafah. The soldiers killed at the outpost, from the Bedouin desert patrol battalion, were surprised in the attack, but fought bravely and fell fighting. Members of their families made a graveside call for Israel not to respond to the deaths of their sons, and to avoid further bloodshed. But the IDF's feelings of anger and insult were too great to be overcome. There is an operational reason for the location of the IDF's action, which was carried out in the same place that Palestinians, using underground tunnels, smuggle arms and ammunition across the border. While the smuggling is going on, others consistently shoot at a nearby Israeli outpost. All efforts to eradicate smuggling in the area have failed. Leveling houses, however, is something that the army has not done in the past. The killing of four soldiers provided the IDf with a convenient backdrop, against which to stage their destructive action. This is a prime example of excessive and unreasonable force, which was not born out of any need for self-defense. This, therefore, is a shameful chapter in the history of the IDF and of Israel. The destruction in Rafah is the diametric opposite of the capture of a Palestinian arms boat in the Red Sea. Usually, the Prime Minister's Office issues Israeli embassies abroad with explanations of exceptional army actions. This time, there was no word from Jerusalem. The ambassadors were left with the difficult task of explaining the action, since no simplistic spin would carry much weight this time. The day after the demolition of civilian dwelling places in Rafah, Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer hosted the heads of the three coalition parties making up the Japanese government. At the end of the visit, the minister's office issued a statement, which included the following sentence: 'The Defense Minister pointed out [to his guests] that 'we must do everything to ease the suffering of the wider Palestinian population.'' This is a slogan that is bandied about by all and sundry. After the demolitions in Rafah, in which hundreds of unarmed civilians were turned into victims, that particular slogan sounds like nothing more than a cynical joke. Copyright © 2001 The New York Times - All rights reserved

reply by TheAZCowBoy 4/12/2002 (10:24)

reply top Seth's post: A Jew posting another Jews lies, half truths and committing their 'regular' crimes of omission---now that's what I call 'objectivity Seth.' TheAZCowBoy,