Amnesty International Delegates In Jenin

Israel/Occupied Territories: Amnesty International Delegates In Jenin

15 April 2002

An Amnesty International delegation -- which includes Javier Zúñiga, Director of Regional Strategy in the International Secretariat of the organization and Kathleen Cavanaugh, from the Department of Law at Galway University, Ireland, and Derrick Pounder, Professor of Forensic Medicine in Dundee University, Scotland -- reached Jenin today. The delegates had to pass through two Israeli army checkpoints and walk for two hours before gaining access to Jenin. They are still seeking access to the hospital and the refugee camp.

"We fear that if investigations are not carried out at once to clarify the circumstances of the killings of hundreds of Palestinians in Jenin refugee camp, crucial evidence may be destroyed as Israel continues to impede access to the camp to the outside world," the organization's delegates said.

The Israeli Defence Forces said that the scores who were killed in Jenin died in combat. The Amnesty International delegates have been talking to Palestinians who have escaped from Jenin and to residents of Jenin and the camps by telephone, and have received eye-witness testimony of houses being shelled or bulldozed on top of the residents, and of Palestinians, including children being left to bleed to death in the streets.

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