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NYT. 9 April 2002. Palestinians' Plight in Battered Refugee Camp Brings Warning. JERUSALEM -- International aid workers and a leading Israeli civil rights group issued warnings tonight of a looming crisis for people in the isolated Jenin refugee camp, a densely populated one-square-mile warren of 10,000 inhabitants that has been the site of this week's fiercest occupation by Israeli forces. Two hundred women and children suffering from dehydration emerged from the camp today, aid workers said. Food, water, electricity and ambulances have been blocked from the area for five days, Palestinian officials said. [N.B.] An Israeli human rights group said that Israeli forces have demolished Palestinian homes, including several with people still inside them. The fierce fighting in Jenin appears to have taken the operation's highest toll, leaving 9 Israeli soldiers and 50 to 100 Palestinian fighters dead [a 9 - to - 10 ratio]. Palestinian civilians interviewed by telephone described eerily empty streets, gunfire all around and Apache attack helicopters continuously hovering overhead. "Since 7 a.m., I have been counting about 40 rockets being shot on refugee camps," said Najeh Jarrar, a 60-year-old college professor who said he was cowering with his wife and child between their bathroom and kitchen. "We don't know where the bullets will fall." In a rare example of public criticism, a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross demanded that Israeli forces allow aid convoys access to the area. "The wounded can't be tended to, the dead can't be brought out of the camp," said Stefan Ziegler, a Red Cross official who was able to reach the outskirts of the camp today. "The water has run out." At least a half-dozen bodies have been buried in the yard of the Jenin government hospital, which sits just outside the camp, aid workers said. In a telephone interview tonight Dr. Muhammad Abughali, the hospital's director, began shouting when an Israel rocket landed nearby. "Oh my God, did you hear that?" he said breathlessly as the sound of an explosion echoed over the line. "This is a missile! This is a missile!" Dr. Abughali said his staff had given 200 hungry and thirsty women and children milk and food after they left the camp today. He said the bombing seemed to have slowed this afternoon, but parts of the camp have been heavily damaged. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, a leading civil rights group, issued a statement last night accusing the army of "severe human rights violations" in Jenin. Tally Gur, spokeswoman for the association, said they have received reliable reports of houses being demolished with people inside them. "We know that it has happened several times, not just once," she said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
