Jenin massacre syndrome

[eyl]

The fairytale about the "Jenin massacre" may have died, but were lessons learned? Some were. The European media, especially the electronic media, has given some expression to the suffering of Israeli civilians under attack. It has not (usually) supported Hizbullah.

But in other cases, no lessons were learned from the blood libel of the Jenin massacre. During the second week of fighting, Israel's military campaign in Lebanon is currently being portrayed as the total destruction of Lebanon, of essential civilian infrastructure, as a human tragedy on the level of the 2004 tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia.

Reading reports from left-leaning field reporters, one gets a picture that Beirut has been destroyed at least as badly as Dresden was during the Second World War. Foreign television channels use one section of footage over and over, showing the destruction of one neighborhood in south Beirut, to "show" what has happened throughout the city.

These claims, unfortunately, rest on the arrogant statements and bragging of several Israeli politicians and generals. Threats to "bomb Lebanon fifty years backwards" – statements intended for domestic consumption, and perhaps as part of the psychological warfare against the enemy – were picked up and broadcast by the world media as proof of Israel's destructive intentions.

And where is the truth in all this? The air force's bombing of Lebanon have caused, as always happens in war, damage and destruction, but this damage has been extremely limited. Israel has not "kicked Lebanon's ass," nor is there any intention to do so. In Beirut, to date, the airport has been hit, as have several strategic targets and buildings in the Shiite Quarter. That's a far cry from the descriptions of horror being played out nightly on television screens, and of charges of war crimes.

Still, talk of a "Lebanese nakba," a humanitarian disaster that any honest person would feel revulsion about, fails to reflect reality. It is no more than horror propaganda that many prefer to believe, including many Israeli journalists. Analysts repeat the claims without verifying the facts, and preach moral lessons and philosophies based on these claims.

The numbers, of course, don't tell the whole story: The death of even one innocent person is a terrible tragedy, and 50,000 refugees is an appalling horror. But statistics do have a public relations value.

As of this writing, some 360 Lebanese have been killed by Israeli military action, about half of them Hizbullah fighters (as opposed to official Lebanese statistics). After two weeks of bombing, these numbers tell the story of low-level war. There is no "destruction of Lebanon," just like there was no "Jenin massacre."

Ynet

[Violet_Crumble]

1. This writer's a bit loose with the truth himself...

It took months for human rights organizations, even the United Nations, to issue their reports refuting Palestinian claims. There was no massacre in Jenin, no ethnic cleansing, no intentional destruction of hospitals. There was a bloody battle in which soldiers died on each side.

'A bloody battle in which soldiers died on each side?' Really? That's what HRW and other human rights organisations came to a conclusion of? That's very strange, because the HRW report for instance specifically mentions war-crimes and the killing of civilians. I'd link to the report itself but the hrw site appears to be down right now...

This guy uses similar tactics he accuses the 'worldwide left-wing' of, and to be honest, much of what he says is pretty silly. He claims the media is trying to give a picture of Beirut being as damaged as Dresden was. I call bullshit on that one. I've been watching news reports and they show parts of Beirut that have been extremely damaged and other parts that are untouched. And the media fixation over here was on the port area, which was very untouched and so safe looking that I'm surprised Naomi Robson wasn't shipped over there to do a live 'Today Tonight'ala Beaconsfield. He claims 'The air force's bombing of Lebanon have caused, as always happens in war, damage and destruction, but this damage has been extremely limited.' Somehow I think 'extremely limited' might be just as much an understatement as claims the entire country is in smouldering ruins is an overstatement. Canadians might disagree strongly with his comments given the deaths of Canadian citizens in southern Lebanon. And relatives of those civilians taking the advice of Israel and fleeing in a van which scored a direct hit from an Israeli missile may also disagree with him...

Something else I find rather suss is his claim that out of 360 Lebanese deaths, about half of them are Hezbollah fighters. I heard on the news this morning that around 1/3 of civilian deaths were children. Bear with me here, coz I'm crap at anything with numbers, but if around 190 of the deaths are Hezbollah fighters, and another 120 deaths were of children, then that leaves only 50 adult civilians that have been killed by Israeli military action. That doesn't sound right....

[eyl]

4. Oh, he's exaggerating, no doubt of that

I'm afraid I'm really pressed for time right now, so I can't respond with more than a few quick points.

1) Those news snippets I've seen focused almost entirely on the destruction. Furthermore, I posted this here specifically because a lot of posters here are talking in terms of "Israel destroying Beirut"
2) On the casualties, he's again exaggerating. Current IDF estimates place Hizbullah dead at around 100.

[Violet_Crumble]

5. Exaggeration's a winner in this current mess, that's for sure...

I've seen the exaggeration you mention about destroying Beirut. What probably adds to the sense among some that the entire city is being destroyed was seeing the desperation of foreign nationals who were busting to get out of Lebanon. I don't know if other govts have warned their nationals staying behind the same way, but today our govt warned Australians staying in Lebanon that they were running out of time to leave and to go now or else (not that I think the words 'or else' are really part of the normal DFAT lingo). I suspect if the govt were to ever start evacuating its citizens from Israel, the perception at home would be similar...

This is probably a completely pulling it out of the air way of estimating casualties, but I figure taking the Lebanese figure and the IDF figure and arriving at a figure somewhere right in the middle of both of them might give some sort of reasonable figure. At least that's what I do when it comes to protests and the police and organisers estimates of attendees....

[Andromeda]

2. What an interesting article.

It's nice to hear a sane voice in the wilderness that is media madness. Things have gotten so blown out of proportion during this conflict one would think it was the equivalent to Hiroshima.

It is bad when civilians get killed or infrastructure is destroyed but exaggerating claims of damage only muddys the waters and creates hysteria which obscures the real truth.

[Violet_Crumble]

3. It'd help if you read with even a bit of objectivity....

The *real truth* isn't contained in an article full of underexaggerations which attacks overexaggerations....

[frankieT]

6. on the other hand

maybe some media should stop exaggerating about Qassam or Katyusha rockets and stop telling that Hizbullah or Hamas can destroy Israel.

[mogster]

7. The fairytale about the "Jenin massacre"

OK, that was a very interesting period, spring 2002.
And it was no fairytale, Shimon Peres called it a massacre and at the same time his soft line was weakened considerably inside the Israeli govt.

Here's a transation of a Norw. article from that period:

04.09.2002: Israel fear the reactions


"The Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres calls the army's actions in the refugee camp Jenin a «massacre». Also among the officers, there are strong objections regarding the operation.

Foriegn minister Peres fear the world's reactions when the details from the fighting in Jenin comes out. Over a 100 Palestinians is so far killed by the Israeli army.
Privatly, Peres calls the operation a «massacre», the Israeli paper the Ha'aretz writes today.

Officers in the Israeli army (IDF) also have strong concerns over the action taken against Jenin, which, according to PM Ariel Sharon, is intended to tear up the Palestinian terror networks.
- Because of the danger, soldiers practically never advance on foot, says unnamed officers. - The bulldozers has simply shaved away the houses and create terrible destruction. When the world sees the pictures of what we've done, it will harm Israel enormously.

- No matter how much of the terror infra structure we uncover and destroys, there's no justification for such destruction.

Shimon Peres is getting more and more isolated in Sharon's govt. Yesterday, the PM extended the government with three secretaries from extreme rightwing parties.

Peres (the article has typo) is letting it shine through that he doesn't think Sharon on Monday gave the national assembly enough evidence that Yasser Arafat has personal responsibility for terror attacks inside Israel. Peres also says the isolation of Arafat in Ramallah just has increased the prestige and power of the Palestinian president."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/09/323704.html

April/spring 2002 was the beginning of Israel's unilateral line which today is so apparent, and I think it is fair to say that we failed to see that our (I speak for Norway here) united condemnation of the country only 7 months after 911 gave extremism presendence, and subsequently worked the opposite way of what was intended.

Here's a timeline, all dates are approximate and are the days the news broke about the various incidents. All links are Norwegian, sorry about that. I keep them there for verification purposes:

04.02.2002: Norway sponsors a resolution against Israel
"Norway ended this weekend it's leadership of the UN Security Council with big drama. For the first time in the UN history, the US agreed to a resolution that Israel is firmly against.
(...)
The resolution demands, among other things, Israels withdrawal from the West Bank.
- It was a very dramatic night, says UN-ambassador Ole Petter Kolby, who yesterday left the chairmanship to Russia."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/02/322209.html

04.04 2002: Norwegian Grocery giant Coop decides to boycott Israeli products
"Coop Norway has about 25% of the Norw. market in groceries. It's mostly oranges that Coop imports from Israel."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/04/322586.html

04.04.2002: Norwegians support the Palestinians (poll)
"44% of the people asked in a survey has the most sympathy with the Palestinians in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Only 9% has strongest sympathy with Israel."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/04/322565.html

04.05.2002: Rød-Larsen: Fears regional crisis
"Terje Rød-Larsen, the UN special envoy to the Middle East, fears that war-like conditions can break out between Israel and the neighbouring countries Lebanon and Syria.
(...)
- It has been launched rockets into Israel from Lebanon for five days now. I see this situation as very serious, and we have protested as loudly as possible, says Rød-Larsen."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/05/322785.html

04.06.2002: Wiesenthal centre: Norway is playing along with terrorists
"The Simon Wiesenthal Centre accuses the Norwegian government for playing on the team with terrorists, and accuses the Norwegian people of double moral, arrogance and a complete lack of understanding of what's happening in the Middle East."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/06/323003.html

04.07.2002: Erekat: Fears a bloodbath
"- The situation is extremely critical. Tanks and soldiers goes into the Jenin refugee camp. The streets are so narrow that the soldiers can't get through with tanks, so they bomb their way in instead. I fear that Sharon has executed a new massacre in Jenin, just as he did in the refugee camps Shabra and Shatila in 1982, says Erekat."

04.15.2002: UN condemns Israeli "mass killings"
"The UN human rights commission condemns Israel for "mass killings" of Palestinians, and demands that Israel stops the military offensive in the West Bank. The Human Rights Commission decided Monday, during it's yearly session, on a resolution proposed by Arab and muslim countries, which also condemns Israeli human rights violations and 'confirms the Palestinian legitimate right to defend themselves'. The resolution was voted in by 40 against 5 votes. 7 countries abstained. Many European countries voted for, while UK and Germany voted against."
(Norway wasn't a member this year, nor was the US)
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/15/324953.html

04.16.2002: Red Cross not allowed to help
"Israel still won't let the humanitarian organization into Jenin."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/16/325203.html

04.19.2002: Rød-Larsen criticizes Israel in strong terms
"The UN envoy to the Middle East, Terje Rød-Larsen, yeaterday criticized Israel in strong terms for it's behaviour in Jenin. He was met with sharp Israeli reactions.
(...)
A military spokesperson criticized Rød-Larsen for his visit to the Jenin refugee camp. He didn't visit the victims of the suicide bomb in Natanya, said the spokesperson."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/19/325844.html

04.20.2002: - Go home to Quisling-land
"- The people that gave us Quisling doesn't need to tell us what's wrong or right.
This statement was directed towards the UN special envoy to the Middle East from Zalman Shoval, advisor to the Israeli PM Ariel Sharon."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/20/326052.html

04.20.2002: - Jenin is a human tragedy
"The US envoy to the Middle East, William Burns, visited the destroyed refugee camp Jenin on Saturday and said that enormous suffering was afflicted upon palestinian civillians.
(...)
The UN Security Council voted unanimously Friday night to create an investigation committee to find out what has happened."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/20/326084.html

04.21.2002: Has cut all ties to Rød-Larsen
"The Israeli government decided today to cut all ties to the UN special envoy to the Middle East, Terje Rød-Larsen. The government is considering to declare Rød-Larsen a persona non grata in Israel. Foreign minister Peres says he was against the government decision."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/21/326227.html

04.22.2002: Rød-Larsen: - Won't resign freely
"Nobody in the Israeli government is allowed to have contact with the UN special envoy to the Middle East, Terje Rød-Larsen. The Israeli PM Ariel Sharon made that clear yesterday.
(...)
But Sharons own foreign minister and Rød-Larsen's old friend, peace prize winner Shimon Peres, disagree with his boss and won't islolate or expel the Norwegian UN-diplomat.
The conflict peaked yesterday. Sharon yesterday evening still hadn't expelled Rød-Larsen from Israel. But it is obvious that the question is on the agenda.

Rød-Larsen says through his spokesperson that he won't resign."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/22/326346.html

04.24.2002: Sharon refuses to cooperate with the UN
"The Israeli PM Ariel Sharon refuses to participate in the UN fact-seeking group in Jenin.
(..)
Late last night it became clear that Israel will not participate in the UN fact-seeking group to investigate what actually happened in Jenin. Well-informed sources gives the following reasons to the paper Ha'aretz:
* The members of the group isn't the people Israel wants
* The comitte has more civillian than miliary members. Israel wants military investigators.
* Israel wasn't consulted thoroughly enough before the fact group was composed."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/24/326836.html

04.24.2002: - Leak to weaken Rød-Larsen
"The Norwegian Foreign Dept. investigates what happened when Terje Rød-Larsen and his wife Mona Juul received a peace prize and 100.000 dollars from the Peres Peace Centre in 1999.
(...)
- It is bad that this issue leaks out in Israeli media right now. It's a strange leak to smear Terje Rød-Larsen, says Middle East expert Hilde Henriksen Waage to Dagbladet"
(The issue at hand was that Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul didn't report the money for tax back home in Norway. Mona Juul was at the time the Norwegian ambassador to Israel. Both were main negotiators during the Oslo-process in the 90's)
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/24/326844.html

04.26.2002: Hard accusations against the Peres Centre
"The peace centre that gave Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul app. one million NOK is involved in shady investments and rewards it's leaders lavishly, claims Israeli paper (Jpost)."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/26/327427.html

04.27.2002: Yossi Beilin: - A smear campaign
"- Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul are among the people in the world that has done most work for the peace process in the Middle East. Now you have to understand that the esktreme right wing in Israel does everything they can to smear everyone involved in the Oslo process.
(...)
That says former Israeli minister of Justice, Yossi Beilin.
According to Beilin, the extreme right in Israel hates everything that has to do with the Oslo Accords. The former minister says that the Right has started a campaign against all involved in the Oslo-process.

- The couple has done everything they can to help in the peace process, and it is a paradox if they're weakened by this, says Beilin.

Beilin says one should not say that TRL and Mona Juul are weakened in their positions concerning the peace work due to the Peres- prize.

- It's very dangerous if those who are «enemies» of Israel are pushed out. Kofi Annan is now viewed as Israels enemy, and the Israelis won't cooperate with him in the fact seeking group. Should we then say that Kofi Annan shouldn't be allowed to work in the region?, says Beilin.
- To say that Terje Rød-Larsen is an enemy of Israel, is the easiest thing to say. But it is crazy if we let Sharon do this, says Beilin."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/27/327478.html

04.29.2002: The couple broke the law
"Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul was disloyal by not informing the Norw. Foreign Dept. about the money. Juul now risks everything from mild remprimand to losing her job as ambassador."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/29/327884.html

04.29.2002: Juul: I'm sorry
"Mona Juul says she's sorry about not informing the Norw. Foreign Dept. about the prize money she received in 1999."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/29/327905.html

04.29.2002: Amnesty about Jenin: Grotesque!
"- What the Israelis have done in Jenin is horrible. And it is extra serious when Israel actually had full military control over the refugee camp before they started the bombing, says a shaken leader of Amnesty Intnl. in Norway, Petter Eide.
(...)
The Norwegian and the Gen. Sec. of AI, Irene Kahn, visited Jenin yesterday. While the UN fact seeking group is stuck in Geneva awaiting the Israeli cooperation, Amnesty tried yesterday to find out what actually happened in the refugee camp Jenin."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/04/29/327735.html

05.02.2002: The UN gives up
"The UN General Secretary Kofi Annan yesterday gave up the attempt to get Israel to cooperate with the investigation of the fighting in the refugee camp Jenin in the West Bank.
(...)
The fact seeking group will be dissolved today, writes Gensec. Kofi Annan in a letter to the UN Security Council.
(...)
- No attempts on pulling us before an international court of law will succeed, says Israeli PM Ariel Sharon."
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/05/02/328406.html

05.14.2002: Mona Juul on her way home
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/05/14/330844.html
05.25.2002: Mona Juul returns the money
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/05/25/332375.html
06.13.2002: Mona Juul accepts reprimand
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/06/13/337870.html

And then the story died, and she continued her work as Norway's ambassador to Israel.
But it would be clear to anyone reading this that there was a shift in the Israeli relationship towards the UN and the world at large during this period, and that maybe it would pay better off to work with people like Peres and Beilin, strenghtening their positions - and the Israeli people - rather than producing useless UN resolutions that only fuel the extremists cause.

After all, isn't this the attitude we're arguing would work against Islamic terrorism? Peaceful means where we build trust and confidence, that's the way to go whenever extremists are involved.
Norway have had a policy towards both parties in the Middle East conflict that says 'moderate criticism' - that is; don't take part in the conflict, that will make it impossible to negotiate with anything that resembles neutrality.
During April 2002 the Israeli people got a crass resolution sponsored by Norway, Norwegian boycott of their products, a Norwegian poll stating very clear that the support is dwindling and the final stab; the chief negotiator from the Oslo peace process telling them they 'massacre' people (actually, he said none of the sort, but so goes the smear...).
Needless to say, this make an impact on the opinion in Israel, and Norway - who was always ready to listen and mediate - seems to have become an enemy as well.
In 2003 Peres visited Norway and was booed. That must have been a very bitter moment for him, knowing how immensely popular he was during the 90's. Maybe Rød-Larsen was bitter as well, standing in the middle of the carnage of Jenin and seeing his life's work being destroyed.

Ah well. I could go on, but I won't.