Operation Defensive Shield - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

in 2002, during the course of the Second Intifada. It was the largest military operation in the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

since the 1967 Six-Day War

Six-Day War

The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...

. The operation was an attempt by the Israeli army to stop the increasing deaths from terrorist attacks, especially in suicide bombings. The spark that gave rise to the action was the March 27 suicide bombing at a hotel in the Israeli resort city of Netanya

Netanya

Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...

. A Palestinian suicide bomber detonated himself amongst a crowd during Passover seder at the Park Hotel, killing 30 mostly elderly vacationers. The attack became known as the Passover Massacre

Passover massacre

The Passover massacre was a suicide bombing carried out by Hamas at the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel on March 27, 2002, during a Passover seder. Thirty civilians were killed in the attack and 140 were injured...

.

Operation Defensive Shield began on March 29, 2002, with an incursion into Ramallah

Ramallah

Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...

placing Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat

Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...

under siege in his Ramallah compound

Mukataa

Mukataa is the name used to refer to the offices and administrative centers of the Palestinian National Authority.Mukataas were mostly built during the British Mandate as Tegart forts and were used both as British government centers and as dwellings for the British administrative staff. Some...

, followed by incursions into the six largest cities in the West Bank, and their surrounding localities. The Israel Defense Forces invaded Tulkarm

Tulkarm

Tulkarem or Tulkarm is a Palestinian city in the northern Samarian mountain range in the Tulkarm Governorate in the extreme northwestern West Bank adjacent to the Netanya and Haifa districts to the west, the Nablus and Jenin Districts to the east...

and Qalqilya on April 1, Bethlehem

Bethlehem

Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...

the next day, Jenin

Battle of Jenin

The Battle of Jenin took place in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Israel Defense Forces entered the camp, and other areas under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, during the Second Intifada, as part of Operation Defensive Shield...

and Nablus

Nablus

Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...

the next. From April 3–21, the period was characterized by strict curfews on civilian populations and restrictions of movement of international personnel, including at times prohibition of entry to humanitarian and medical personnel as well as human rights monitors and journalists.

The UN report on the subject says, "Combatants on both sides conducted themselves in ways that, at times, placed civilians in harm's way. Much of the fighting during Operation Defensive Shield occurred in areas heavily populated by civilians and in many cases heavy weaponry was used."

Background

The cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...

escalated during the Second Intifada. March and April 2002 saw a dramatic increase in suicide bomb attacks against Israelis by Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

, Islamic Jihad and the Fatah

Fatah

Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...

-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades

The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is a coalition of Palestinian nationalist militias in the West Bank. The group's name refers to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem...

.

The first wave of Israeli incursions began on 27 February through to 14 March, causing significant civilian loss of life. Following nine attacks by Palestinian militants between March 2–5, the Israeli cabinet decided to massively expand its military activity against these groups. On March 5, while talking with reporters in the Knesset

Knesset

The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...

cafeteria, Sharon, pointing to the bloodiest week against Israelis since the start of the Second Intifada, explained the cabinet's decision: "The Palestinians must be hit, and it must be very painful... We must cause them losses, victims, so that they feel a heavy price."

Suicide bombings continued, with attacks on 9 March (see Café Moment bombing

Café Moment bombing

The Café Moment bombing was a Palestinian terrorist attack in a coffee shop in downtown Jerusalem, Israel, on March 9, 2002, in which 11 civilians were killed and 54 wounded.- The attack :...

), and 20 March. A larger attack on 27 March, known as the Passover massacre

Passover massacre

, in which 30 Israeli civilians were killed, prompted the Israeli government to announce Operation Defensive Shield on March 29, deploying the IDF in a second wave of incursions into the West Bank

West Bank

in what it termed a large-scale counter-terrorist offensive. The Israel Defense Forces issued emergency call-up notices for 30,000 reserve soldiers, the largest call-up since the 1982 Lebanon War

1982 Lebanon War

The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...

.

Overall, in March 2002, some 130 Israelis including approximately 100 noncombatants were killed by Palestinians, while a total of 238 Palestinians including at least 83 noncombatants were killed in the same month by the IDF.

Stated goals

The stated goals of the operation (as conveyed to the Israeli Knesset

Knesset

by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon

Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....

on April 8, 2002) were to "to catch and arrest terrorists and, primarily, their dispatchers and those who finance and support them; to confiscate weapons intended to be used against Israeli citizens; to expose and destroy facilities and explosives, laboratories, weapons production factories and secret installations. The orders are clear: target and paralyze anyone who takes up weapons and tries to oppose our troops, resists them or endangers them - and to avoid harming the civilian population." IDF officers also noted that incursions would force Palestinian militants "to exert their energy by defending their homes in the camps instead of by plotting attacks on Israelis."

The Palestinian attachment to the UN report on Operation Defensive Shield challenged the validity of the Israeli claim that it was targeting "terrorists," noting that, "[...] the record shows clearly that the nature of the actions taken, the amount of harm inflicted on the population and the practical results prove completely different political goals [...] the Israeli occupying forces have consistently targeted the Palestinian police and security forces, instead of 'terrorists', and have consistently tried to destroy the Palestinian Authority and declared it an 'enemy', instead of groups hostile to peace in the Middle East."

The operation

Operation Defensive Shield was announced on March 29, but it is widely-assumed preparations began nearly a month before. In early April, the IDF was conducting major military operations inside all Palestinian cities, but the majority of the fighting ere centered on Bethlehem

Bethlehem

, Jenin

Jenin

Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...

, Nablus

Nablus

, and Ramallah

Ramallah

. Over 20,000 Israeli reservists were activated during the conflict.

Jenin

According to Israeli authorities, Jenin became a central base for terror groups and terror attacks mounted by several organizations, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and Hamas

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

. The IDF spokesman attributed 23 of the 60 suicide bombers that attacked Israel in 2002 to Palestinian from Jenin.

On April 2, more than 1,000 IDF soldiers entered the camp, calling civilians and non-combatants to leave. An estimated 13,000 Palestinians were housed in Jenin prior to the operation.

The operation was led by the Fifth Infantry brigade, which had not yet been trained in close-quarters combat. During a series of sweeps, the Israeli military claimed the entire camp was booby-trapped.
At least 2,000 bombs and booby traps were planted throughout the camp. In response to the discovery, the Israelis dispatched a combat bulldozer

IDF Caterpillar D9

The Israeli Armored CAT D9 — nicknamed Doobi — is a Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer that was modified by the Israel Defence Forces, Israeli Military Industries and Israel Aerospace Industries to increase the survivability of the armored bulldozer in hostile environments and enable it...

to detonate any bombs that were placed in the streets.

Israeli commanders were still not confident that soldiers would be safe from booby traps and IEDs

Improvised explosive device

An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...

. A rapid ground attack would clearly be costly in IDF lives, but political pressure from the United States and elsewhere required a rapid end to the fighting. Former minister defense Shaul Mofaz

Shaul Mofaz

Lt. General Shaul Mofaz is an Israeli politician who serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs And Defense Committee at the Knesset...

promised combat-operations would be over by April 6, but that was clearly impossible. The IDF slowly advanced into the city, encountering fierce resistance. Most of the fighting was conducted by infantry fighting house-to-house, while armored bulldozers were used to clear away booby traps and IEDs. Air support was limited to helicopters firing wire-guided missiles. Palestinian commander Mahmoud Twalbe was killed by an Israeli bulldozer according to a British military expert, and blew himself up to collapse a house on Israeli soldiers, according to the Palestinians.

On the 3rd day of operations, an IDF unit accidentally wandered into a Palestinian ambush. 13 Israeli soldiers were killed and three of the bodies were captured before a Shayetet 13

Shayetet 13

Shayetet 13 is the elite naval commando unit of the Israeli Navy. The unit is considered one of the primary Special Forces units of the Israel Defense Forces . S'13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, sabotage, maritime intelligence gathering, maritime hostage rescue, and...

naval commando unit could retrieve them.

After the ambush, the Israeli military developed a tactic that allowed units to advance father and more safely into the camps. Israeli commanders would send an armored bulldozers to ram the corner of a house, creating a hole. A IDF Achzarit

IDF Achzarit

The Achzarit is a heavily armored armored personnel carrier manufactured by the Israeli Defence Forces Corps of Ordnance.-History:...

would then enter the hole, allowing troops to clear the house without going through booby-trapped doors. Palestinian resistance was halted following the adoption of the bulldozer method, and most residents of the Hawashin neighorhood surrendered before it was leveled. Palestinian commander Hazem Qabha refused to surrender and was killed.

Throughout the Battle of Jenin

Battle of Jenin

, and for a few days afterwards, the city and its refugee camp were under total closure. There was much concern at the time about possible human rights violations occurring in the camp. Allegations of a massacre in Jenin were spread by Palestinians in order to create pressure on Israel to halt the operation. Claims of complete destruction of the Jenin refugee camp, a massacre of 500 civilians, and mass graves being dug by Israeli soldiers were proven false after a United Nations investigation.hare Reports of a large-scale massacre were found to be untrue, a result of confusion resulting from the Israeli refusal to allow entry to outside observers, and/or Palestinian media manipulation

Media manipulation

Media manipulation is an aspect of public relations in which partisans create an image or argument that favours their particular interests. Such tactics may include the use of logical fallacies and propaganda techniques, and often involve the suppression of information or points of view by crowding...

.

Ultimately, the Jenin incursion resulted in the deaths of 52 Palestinians. According to Israel, five were civilians, while the rest were militants. Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

reported that 27 militants and 22 civilians, as well as three unidentified persons, had been killed, based mostly on witness interviews. Israeli losses totalled 23 dead and 75 wounded.

Nablus

Israeli troops participated in an incursion into Nablus, which was estimated to have held over 8,000 Palestinian militants, in addition to Palestinian security forces. Israeli forces surrounded the city, and clashed with Palestinians around refugee camps, while Israeli attack helicopters pounded Palestinian positions in the main square. The main attack focused on the Nablus Casbah, with the Paratroopers Brigade entering from the west, the Golani Brigade

Golani Brigade

The Golani Brigade is an Israeli infantry brigade that is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. Its symbol is a green tree on a yellow background, and its soldiers wear a brown beret. It is one of the most highly decorated infantry units in the...

from the south, and armored divisions from the east. Troops gradually moved into the city by destroying walls within houses to get into the next house, in order to avoid booby-trapped doors and road-side bombs. Israeli forces relied heavily on sniper

Sniper

A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....

units, with troops often trying to get militants to fire and reveal themselves. During the battle over 70 Palestinian militants were killed, while Israel lost one officer to friendly fire.

The IDF arrested over 100 Palestinians, and discovered several explosive laboratories.

Bethlehem

In Bethlehem, following the entry of the IDF, a group of 39 wanted gunmen armed with assault rifles and explosives holed themselves up in the nativity church. The group held 46 priests and other personnel of the church as hostages, along with about 200 civilians, including children. The Vatican warned Israel not to damage the church, which marks the site of the birth of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

. For 5 weeks the Israelis held the city and church under curfew, with periodic breaks. Israeli snipers killed seven militants, while another was killed in an exchange of fire which also wounded two Israel Border Police

Israel Border Police

The Israel Border Police is the gendarmerie and border security branch of the Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav , meaning border guard, whilst its members are colloquially known as Magavnikim . Border Guard is often used as the official name of the...

gendarmes. On March 10 the siege ended, with a deal seeing some militants deported to the Gaza Strip, and the rest exiled to Cyprus.

Ramallah

In Ramallah, the IDF entered the city on 29 March, and besieged the Mukataa

Mukataa

, Yasser Arafat's presidential compound, in an effort to isolate him physically and diplomatically. The IDF raided the hiding place of Marwan Barghouti

Marwan Barghouti

Marwan Hasib Ibrahim Barghouti is a Palestinian political figure. He is regarded as a leader of the First and Second Intifadas. Barghouti at one time supported the peace process, but later became disillusioned, and after 2000 went on to become the main figure behind the Al-Aqsa Intifada in the...

on 14 April, and arrested him, and the following day, arrested Taleb Barghouti. The IDF also raided the headquarters of the Preventive Security Force, where they uncovered numerous incriminating documents, including a plan to recruit female Israeli soldiers as spies.

The UN report on the subject noted: "It was not only the Palestinian people whose movement was restricted during Operation Defensive Shield. In many instances, humanitarian workers were not able to reach people in need to assess conditions and deliver necessary assistance because of the sealing of cities, refugee camps and villages during the operation. There were also cases of Israeli forces not respecting the neutrality of medical and humanitarian workers and attacking ambulances."

In reply to these complaints, the Israeli Army stated that the curfew was placed in order to prevent civilians from being caught in gunfights and getting hurt. Palestinian ambulances were stopped for checks following the discovery of an explosive belt

Explosive belt

An explosive belt is an improvised explosive device, a belt or a vest packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers...

in a Red Crescent

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...

ambulance

Ambulance

An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...

Tulkarm

IDF Reserve Paratroop Battalion 55 entered Tulkarm

Tulkarm

with armored support. Militants abandoned their weapons and melted into the local population. A Taggart fort that had served as their headquarters was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. Nine militants were killed in the battle. The IDF also raided nearby villages, arresting hundreds of wanted men.

Casualties

During the fighting, 30 Israeli soldiers were killed and 127 were wounded, while 497 Palestinians were killed and 1,447 were wounded according to a United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

investigation. However, B'Tselem

B'Tselem

B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...

only registered 240 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank during the period in which the military operation was carried out. Approximately 7,000 Palestinians were detained by Israel including 396 wanted suspects.

The World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

estimated that over $361 million worth of damage was caused to Palestinian infrastructure and institutions, $158 million of which came from the aerial bombardment and destruction of houses in Nablus

Nablus

and Jenin

Jenin

Strategic outcome

The effects of Operation Defensive Shield, as recorded by the Israeli Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center, were an initial drop in half (46 percent) in the number of suicide bombings—from 22 in February–March to 12 in April–May—and a 70 percent drop in executed attacks between the first half of 2002 and the second half (43 January–June, 13 July–December). While 2003 had a total of 25 executed suicide bombings in comparison to 56 in 2002, the main difference was the number of attacks which did not come to realization (184) either due to Israeli interception or problems in the execution. 2003 also saw a 35 percent drop in the number of fatalities from 220 deaths in 2002 to 142 deaths resulting from suicide bombings.

Beverly Milton-Edwards, Professor of Politics at Queen's University in Belfast, writes that while aspects of Palestinian militancy were reduced after the operation, Israel's objective of ending the Al-Aqsa Intifada remained unmet. Israeli destruction of institutions belonging to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the "emasculation" of the PA and its President, Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat

, opened a vacuum in the social and welfare system that was rapidly filled by the Hamas

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

, whose popularity grew. Milton-Edwards concludes that, "The unequivocal victory [sought by Israel] eventually remained elusive and the Israelis and Palestinians resumed a variety of forms of low intensity warfare with each other.".

Fact-finding and criticism

A UN fact-finding mission was established under UN Security Council Resolution 1405

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1405

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1405, adopted unanimously on April 19, 2002, after recalling resolutions 242 , 338 , 1397 , 1402 and 1403 , the Council emphasised the necessity of humanitarian access to the Palestinian population.The Security Council was concerned by the humanitarian...

(April 19, 2002) into Operation Defensive Shield following Palestinian charges that a massacre had occurred in Jenin. In its attachment to the UN report the Palestinian Authority decried Israel's "culture of impunity" and called for "an international presence to monitor compliance with international humanitarian law, to help in providing protection to Palestinian civilians and to help the parties to implement agreements reached." A report of the European Union attached in the report stated, "The massive destruction, especially at the centre of the refugee camp, to which all heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah can testify, shows that the site had undergone an indiscriminate use of force, that goes well beyond that of a battlefield."

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

determined that "Israeli forces committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting prima facie to war crimes."

Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

reported that war crimes occurred in the Jenin

Jenin

refugee camp and in Nablus

Nablus

, including: unlawful killings; a failure to ensure medical or humanitarian relief; demolition of houses and property occurred (sometime with civilians still inside); water and electricity supplies to civilians were cut; torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in arbitrary detention occurred; and Palestinians civilians were used for military operations or as "human shields." According to Amnesty, "the IDF acted as though the main aim was to punish all Palestinians."

Palestinian Authority civilian property

The UN report noted that, "United Nations agencies and other international agencies, when allowed into Ramallah and other Palestinian cities, documented extensive physical damage to Palestinian Authority civilian property. That damage included the destruction of office equipment, such as computers and photocopying machines, that did not appear to be related to military objectives. While denying that such destruction was systematic, the Israeli Defence Forces have admitted that their personnel engaged in some acts of vandalism, and are carrying out some related prosecutions." Cheryl Rubenberg

Cheryl Rubenberg

Cheryl A. Rubenberg is a writer and researcher specializing in the Middle East, formerly an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Florida International University...

writes that data and records held by Palestinian civilian institutions were systematically destroyed by the IDF; among the institutions affected were the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics is the statistical organization under the umbrella of the Palestinian Cabinet of the Palestinian National Authority....

(PCBS), the Palestinian Authority's Ministries of Culture, Education and Health, and the Palestine International Bank. Amira Hass

Amira Hass

Amira Hass is a prominent left-wing Israeli journalist and author, mostly known for her columns in the daily newspaper Ha'aretz. She is particularly recognized for her reporting on Palestinian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza, where she has also lived for a number of years.-Life:The daughter of...

, an Israeli reporter for Ha'aretz, criticized the IDF for targeting computer files and printed records, dubbing the offensive "Operation Destroy the Data".

European Union reaction

The European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

began considering economic sanctions

Economic sanctions

Economic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas...

against Israel. Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

Foreign Minister Josep Pique, whose country held the EU Presidency, said that "sanctions against Israel are a possible scenario", and that EU states were discussing the possibility, saying that "some countries are in favor of introducing sanctions very, very soon, others are more reluctant, so we have to discuss it". Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

Foreign Minister Louis Michel

Louis Michel

Louis H. O. Ch. Michel is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. Since 2009, he has been a Member of the European Parliament...

also said that the EU could rethink its trade relations with Israel. European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

in Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, passed a non-binding resolution calling for economic sanctions on Israel, an arms embargo on both parties, and for the European Union

European Union

to "suspend immediately" its trade and cooperation agreement with Israel. It condemned the "military escalation pursued by the Sharon government" and the "oppression of the Palestinian civilian population by the Israeli army", while also condemning suicide bombings. According to Yediot Aharonot, Israel's refusal to allow Spanish EU officials Javier Solana

Javier Solana

Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...

and Josep Pique into the Mukataa

Mukataa

to meet with Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat

, while allowing American envoy Anthony Zinni

Anthony Zinni

Anthony Charles Zinni is a retired four-star General in the United States Marine Corps and a former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command...

to enter, was the "straw that broke the camel's back". The resolution was passed by a vote of 269 to 208, with 22 abstentions.

Jenin massacre allegations

A great deal of the media attention to Operation Defensive Shield centered around Palestinians claims of a large scale massacre in Jenin

Battle of Jenin

and Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat was widely quoted by the press as saying there were 500 massacred Palestinians in the Israeli assault on Jenin.

Human Rights Watch found no evidence to sustain claims of massacres or large-scale extrajudicial executions by the IDF in Jenin refugee camp. However, many of the civilian deaths documented by Human Rights Watch amounted to unlawful or willful killings by the IDF. Many others could have been avoided if the IDF had taken proper precautions to protect civilian life during its military operation, as required by international humanitarian law. Among the civilian deaths were those of Kamal Zgheir, a fifty-seven-year-old wheelchair-bound man who was shot and run over by a tank on a major road outside the camp on April 10, even though he had a white flag attached to his wheelchair; fifty-eight year old Mariam Wishahi, killed by a missile in her home on April 6 just hours after her unarmed son was shot in the street; Jamal Fayid, a thirty-seven-year old paralyzed man who was crushed in the rubble of his home on April 7 despite his family's pleas to be allowed to remove him; and fourteen-year-old Faris Zaiban, who was killed by fire from an IDF armored car as he went to buy groceries when the IDF-imposed curfew was temporarily lifted on April 11 Human Rights Watch stated that of at least 52 Palestinians were killed, at least 27 were suspected to have been armed Palestinian militants.

Multiple deaths were also caused by refusal (whether enforced by militia groups or voluntary is disputed) of Palestinian families to leave their houses, of which specific bulldozers, clearing the way for operations, were not alerted of on a house-to-house basis (See Israel-Gaza war 2008-2009 for similar issues; where IDF warnings were continually issued that specific houses carrying munitions were to be targeted, with Hamas response of forcing families to remain inside their houses.)

Initially Israel welcomed an investigation, announcing that it would cooperate fully with the Secretary General's fact-finding effort. According to the United Jewish Communities, Israel made a number of points regarding the team's methodology, in order to "safeguard the impartiality of its work." However, Israeli government receptivity to cooperating with the UN fact-finding mission decreased when Kofi Annan did not appoint a predominantly technical team with specialized military and forensic expertise, but rather political-administrative figures without such specialized skills (including Cornelio Sommaruga

Cornelio Sommaruga

Cornelio Sommaruga is a prominent Swiss humanitarian, lawyer and diplomat who is best known for being President of the International Committee of the Red Cross from 1987 to 1999. Today, he chairs the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining in Geneva...

, controversial for previous "Red Swastika" remarks), and after Palestinian officials reduced the casualty toll in Jenin on May 1, 2002. to be between 50-60 deaths while Israel maintained there were only seven or eight civilian casualties. The charges of a massacre which had sparked demands for a U.N. investigation, had now been dropped. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...

, disbanded the UN fact-finding team in Jenin supposed to determine whether a massacre had taken place with the comment:"Clearly the full cooperation of both sides was a precondition for this, as was a visit to the area itself to see the Jenin refugee camp at first hand and to gather information. This is why the Secretariat engaged in a thorough clarification process with the Israeli delegation."

In 2002 Mohammed Bakri, a prominent Arab actor and Israeli citizen, directed and produced a documentary Jenin, Jenin

Jenin, Jenin

Jenin, Jenin is a film directed by Mohammed Bakri, a prominent Arab actor and Israeli citizen, in order to portray what Bakri calls "the Palestinian truth" about the "Battle of Jenin", a clash between the Israeli army and Palestinians in April 2002 which drew Palestinian accounts of a "Jenin...

, to portray "the Palestinian truth" about the "Battle of Jenin". In the documentary Bakri propagates that indeed a massacre of civilians occurred in Jenin. A French Jewish film maker, Pierre Rehov

Pierre Rehov

Pierre Rehov is the pseudonym of a French film maker and novelist, most known for his movies which are almost exclusively based on the Arab-Israeli conflict....

, also directed a documentary on what happened in Jenin during Defensive Shield. His film, The Road to Jenin

The Road to Jenin

The Road to Jenin is a 2003 documentary directed by Pierre Rehov, a French-Algerian film director, whose documentaries mostly deal with the Middle East conflict...

, was produced to counter the claims of a massacre, and to counter the narrative of Mohammed Bakri. CAMERA

Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America is an American non-profit pro-Israel media watchdog group. The group says it was founded in 1982 "to respond to the Washington Post's coverage of Israel's Lebanon incursion", and to respond to what it considers the media's "general...

made a review of the two documentary films. According to the review, Bakri has admitted to shortening his film by 25 min in the wake of criticism.

Reported first-hand allegations

David Rohde of The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

on the April 16 reported:
Stewart Bell of the National Post

National Post

The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...

on the April 15 reported that Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset

Knesset

, said he had met hundreds of Palestinians displaced by what he termed the "massacre" in Jenin. According to Tibi, "Everyone has a tragedy, about executions they saw, about their whole family that was killed, about the most tangible concern -- where is my family?" Bell reported that Jenin's population recounted "vivid accounts" of fighting and homes being demolished but first-hand accounts of massacres was scarce. One such rumor was a grocery store owner near Jenin who spoke of seeing Israeli troops using a refrigerated truck to hold the bodies of massacred Palestinians, which he said was still parked on a nearby hill. He refused to elaborate out of fear from "collaborators." Bell reported that a National Post reporter inspected the truck and found that it contained apples and other food for the Israeli soldiers.

External links

Passover suicide bombing at Park Hotel in Netanya
Israelbooks.com Goldenberg, Doron (2003). State of Siege. Gefen Publishing House.

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