News from Palestine - not seeing the full picture
Al Jazeera and the rest | 09.03.2007 10:57
Palestinians still claim that 250 people were killed. The truth is that 54 Arabs (mostly armed with machine guns and grenades) were killed along with 14 Israeli soldiers.
Indymedia cannot back up his claims of a massacre with victims names or any other relevant information. This is something commonly seen in Palestinian society, the crying wolf syndrome, that caused the UN to scrap its investigation into the alleged massacre.
The area of land that was destroyed was approximately 100 by 100 square meters and an aerial photo of it is still posted on the Israeli Foreign Affairs website. This area was less than 3% of the city which is The area that was destroyed was done so to root out terrorists, the majority of suicide bombers that murdered innocent Israeli women, men and children came from Jenin.
Prior to the IDF operation Defensive Wall Jenin's leading terrorist organizations were mainly centered in it's refugee camp. The leading groups were:
1. Hamas
Hamas' Jenin network organized a number of lethal suicide attacks, most recently in Haifa on March 31, in which 15 Israelis were killed. The Jenin network operated jointly with diverse operational elements in the Hamas movement and its overseas leadership. This network was severely damaged by the IDF in Tubas on April 5. Six major Hamas terror leaders were killed, including Qis Adwan (head of the Jenin infrastructure and organizer of suicide attacks killing dozens of Israelis), and Sa'ed Awad (chief of the QASSAM-2 missile project. Awad's death was effective in slowing missile production in Samaria).
Other senior activists - Nasser Jerar (involved in planning major attacks in Israel) and Jamal Abu Al Hija (Hamas' Jenin head, responsible for directing and financing terror activities) - are still at large.
2. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Until the IDF operation, the PIJ infrastructure in Jenin was the strongest in the PA's territories, due mostly to massive financial injections from the PIJ leadership in Syria. Details of these financial transactions have been verified by captured documents. The PIJ suffered a severe setback with the death of its Jenin military leader, Mahmud Tu'albe (responsible for a string of terrorist attacks inside Israel), and the arrest of senior operational figures, including Ali Safuri and Thabet Mardawi (both responsible for a large number of suicide and murder attacks).
3. Fatah / Al Aqsa Brigades / Tanzim
Fatah's Jenin network served as a central focus for terror activities. According to captured documents, local Fatah members, in close contact with Marwan Barghouti, carried out scores of shooting and explosives attacks against the IDF and Israeli civilians. Among these assaults was the March 30 suicide attack in a Tel Aviv coffee shop, where an Israeli civilian was killed and 45 wounded. Prominent senior Fatah activists include Jamal Hawil (arrested by the IDF for directing lethal terrorist attacks) and Ita Abu Ramila (Fatah and Preventive Security Apparatus leader in Jenin).
Al Jazeera and the rest