Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Aid Groups Criticize Israel Over Rescue Effort in Jenin
Aid workers, who were allowed to move back into the bomb- and rubble-strewn refugee camp at Jenin two days ago, said today that Israeli officials have failed to keep their promises to provide the specialized rescue teams and heavy excavation equipment needed to search for survivors, remove bodies and feed and reunite families.

The aid groups also said that, even though the fighting here ended seven days ago, a strict Israeli military curfew is still in place that interferes with the movement of food, aid and men separated from their families during the Israeli operation.
All sides agree that rubble and the threat of booby traps are slowing the work, but some aid workers question whether the Israeli Army is doing all that it can to clear the area.

Under the Geneva Conventions, Israel, as the occupying power, is responsible for removing bodies from the site and providing aid to civilians. If it cannot, it is obliged to ask for aid from outside groups or organizations.

"They facilitate access," Mick Robertson, a United Nations official, said today. "But there doesn't seem to be a consciousness that that they need to shoulder a large part of the burden."

The claims and counterclaims reflect the hugely divergent views in this camp, which was home to 13,000 people. The Israeli government views the site as a nest of terrorists bent on killing Israeli civilians. The destruction, they say, could have been avoided if Palestinians fighters had surrendered.

Aid workers take no position on the Israeli military incursion here, but say the camp is now a catastrophe in human terms, requiring an immediate, overwhelming and round-the-clock international aid response.

"The devastation is worse than I expected," said one aid worker who emerged from the camp this afternoon. "I couldn't have imagined anything worse than this."

The aid workers see the camp as the equivalent of an earthquake zone, where hundreds of homes have been flattened and thousands are in need of immediate food and housing. An estimated 3,000 people remain in the camp and 10,000 are believed to be scattered across the area.

But instead of scores of rescue teams, excavators and aid trucks descending on the scene, as would happen if this were the site of a natural disaster, they say, work in the camp is progressing slowly.

Since the Israeli forces allowed them to enter the camp two days ago, small Red Cross and United Nations teams have had access to only about 25 percent of a camp that covers nearly two-fifths of a square mile.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/international/middleeast/17JENI.html

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