25 April 2002: Add response.
24 April 2002. Thanks to S.
Eyewitness report from Jenin, 24 April, 2002
From: "Kristen Schurr"
Jenin Refugee Camp
24 April, 2002
An International Relief worker briefed me yesterday on how to indentify undetonated explosives and the Palestinian explosives expert I snuck into Jenin with has given me a crash course in disarming them. Three small children were hospitalized after coming across a live tank shell yesterday and one died. For an hour I heard an explosion every five minutes. There have been at least 14 serious injuries in the past couple of days due to mines, booby-traps, and discarded explosives left behind by Israeli soldiers. The relief worker described the camp as a mine field.
Many Palestinian families are terrified that their homes have been booby-trapped by the soliders who occupied them during the invasion over the past two weeks. Much of the camp is a dusty rubble pile that was once many homes. People wander through the ruins, some sit and stare. The mosque, which has a kindergarten in the basement, has been desecrated and shot full of bullet holes. Most of the homes that were occupied by Israeli soldiers are still paritially standing, but are ruined. In one, the mother's lipstick was used to draw stars of david on the mirrors. The soliders blew out the door and I am told handcuffed two family members to the railing where they were beaten. In the living room there are bullet holes everywhere, including a pile of children's clothes which are also partially burned. Tin cans from solider's food litters the floor as does excrement and the belongings of the Palestinian familiy. The beds are broken and soiled. The children's toys are dismembered and unstuffed. The mother handed my american friend the head of a doll and said thanks for what you've done.
I met with a student yesterday who laughed and cried and shouted while he told me that his friend's mother has lost her mind. He told me she watched her son die, handcuffed and blew to bits by a tank shell. He was shaking and said, "A tank against one guy with no gun." He also congratulated me as an american. He said, "Congratulations for ruining my home, my life, for killing my mother, my brother, and five of my friends."
He looked at me and said, "And you call me a terrorist."
free palestine,
kristen schurr
011 972 341 268
Kristen Schurr said, "there have been at least 14 serious injuries in the past couple of days due to mines, booby-traps, and discarded explosives left behind by Israeli soldiers." According to this CNN article at
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/04/09/mideast.jenin/index.html
CNN reports that 13 Israeli reserve soldiers died in a booby trapped house by Palestinians. It would not make sense for Israeli soldiers to place mines down while their tanks are rampaging through the streets of Jenin. It would only delay their objective. At the bottom of the release Kristen Schurr writes "free palestine." This shows an obvious bias. This website, www.debka.com, has an obvious bias towards Israel but Forbes writes that they have released reports way ahead of other media outlets. I read many publications from both sides so that I could weigh the issues and come to my own conclusion. I wish there was an equal amount of information coming from both sides of the situation on your site.
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