Urgent Call For International Pressure to Open Jenin Refugee Camp

For a full six days since the end of the fighting in Jenin Refugee Camp, the Israeli occupation forces have barred the entry of anyone.
While making unsubstantiated claims of “booby-trapped bodies,” the Israelis have sealed the camp and prevented inspection by journalists, aid workers and international organizations alike.
The United Nations Relief Works Agency who administers the camp has not been allowed in.
Worse yet, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society also say that they have been barred from providing emergency medical aid to anyone in the camp or even to collect the dead.
Local and international journalists have also been prevented from being able to show the world what has happened in Jenin, although some have entered under the threat of having their press credentials revoked, as CNN reported (CNN, Correspondent Ben Wederman Interview, April 10, 2002) Perhaps most tragic is the plight of the Palestinian refugees of the camp who have been separated from their homes and other family members for almost two weeks since the fighting began in that area.
According to Reuters (“Devastation in Refugee Camp Isolated by Israelis,” April 13, 2002), eyewitnesses claim that no males of ages 18-50 remain as they have all been either killed or detained by the Israelis.
The West Bank based human rights organization LAW reports that as of yesterday the Israelis are continuing to demolish Palestinian homes While Israel purports this to be a “war against terrorism” it is clear that they have created a humanitarian catastrophe that can only be considered terrorism on a mass scale inflicted upon the Palestinians in the West Bank.
The intransigence of the Israeli army to allow for international inspections or aid of any kind to enter Jenin Refugee Camp speaks for itself as to what they might be hiding there.
It is also necessary to note that the restrictions placed upon the ICRC and the PRCS constitute war crimes under the 4th Geneva Convention, regarding the uninhibited passage of emergency medical teams.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights implores the international community to intervene in this situation immediately, especially as there may still be some hope of saving the lives of some of the wounded in Jenin Refugee Camp.
This moral imperative, in conjunction with the contempt Israel has shown for international and humanitarian law should compel the world to step in and prevent any further war crimes from taking place.
We call for the immediate implementation of an international protection force to safeguard the lives and property of Palestinian civilians.
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