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'''Jenin''', or '''Janīn''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: جنين) is a [[Palestinian]] city in the occupied [[West Bank]], which - in accord with the [[Oslo Accords]] - is divided between [[Israel]]iIsraeli and [[Palestinian]] control.
== Overview ==
Jenin is a predominantly Palestinian city with a [[refugee camp]] in the northern part of the West Bank (Samaria). It overlooks both the Jordan Valley to the east, and the Jezreel Valley to the north. Jenin is the site of the ancient Israelite village of En Gannim (''See also:'' [[Anem]]), and it is still not a large town. It has a population of a few tens of thousands. In particular, one of the city's quarters is a refugee camp housing the Arab refugees from the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]], and their descendants. It has long been a center of [[Israeli-Palestinian conflict]].
Jenin was the center of civil unrest during the [[Great Uprising]] of Palestinians in the years [[1936]]-[[1939]]; in particular, it was the base of the pioneer of [[Arab]] resistance, [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam|Sheikh Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam]] (the [[Hamas]] military wing is named after him). It was also used by Qawquji's partisans, before they were pushed away by the British.
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==Operation Defensive Shield==
Jenin's refugee camp was the place of one of the most controversial battles of [[Operation Defensive Shield]]. The battle itself drew enormous international attention and is still a painful issue for both Israeli and Palestinians, who continue to fight over it in the media.
=== The battle ===
Jenin was enteredattacked by Israeli forces in early April [[2002]], as part of Israel's [[Operation Defensive Shield]]. A battle took place there, about which conflicting reports were relayed. According to the [[Israeli Defence Forces]], Israel chose not to bomb the spots ofPalestinian resistance using aircraft as it entered, in order to minimize civilian losses [http://www.idf.il/newsite/english/amnesty0407-2.htm], but rather to takeseize holdcontrol of the city using infantry. ADespite totalthis ofclaim, Israeli helicopter gunships launched numerous missiles and killed many civilians. Independent reports confirm that 32 Palestinian militants, 22 Palestinian civilians, and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the street fighting, 14while many buildings were reduced to rubble. Fourteen of themthe Israeli soldiers were killed in a single day either from aan explosive charge carried by a suicide bomber that triggered the collapse of a building orand by being shot by theother bombers'resistance accomplicesfighters. Overall, Israel saidclaimed that its forces had killed 47 militants and 7 civilians. Thebut wallsindependent ofinvestigations manyconcluded buildingsthat were15 coveredof withthe postersvictims hailingthat theIsrael suicideclaimed bomberswere asmilitants "martyrs"were actually civilians.
In October 2002, according to the Walla news agency, [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]] and [[Hamas]] websites reported that their forces in Jenin before the Israeli entry included 250 armed militants. The official Kol Yisrael radio station reported that 15,000 explosive charges were at the militants' disposal, as well as a large number of handguns. The militants were well organized and had an extensive system of communications. Walla also mentionsmentioned sources who claimclaimed that Palestinians youngsters participatedcontributed into the fightingresistance effort, sometimes even carrying explosive charges in their schoolbags.
[[''Time Magazine'']] also wrote about the heavily wired refugee camp. It stated, for example, that on the outskirts of Jenin, an [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] armoured [[Caterpillar D9]] detonated 124 explosive charges. ''Time'' also quoted aan unnamed Palestinian aswho admittingadmitted that the terroristsresistance fighters' own booby traps caused some of the civilian deaths.
According to Israel'sIsraeli forcesauthorities, numerous buildings, passages and even bodies were booby-trapped, often prompting theIsraelis to use ofarmored bulldozers to level sections of the city. TheyThe Israelis also claimed to have found more than a dozen explosiveexplosives-making labs, as well as the bodies of foreign citizens, most of whom were operatives of [[Yasser Arafat]]'s [[Fatah]] movement who had been brought over from Jordan.
=== Allegations of a Massacre ===
Israeli authorities prevented the international press from entering the refugee camp for two weeks as rumors of massacres in Jenin swirled through Palestinian communities. The rumors echoed in the world press for several weeks, further damaging Israel's reputation in the court of world public opinion. However, the allegations were later found to be inaccurate, as later inquiries by human rights groups and the UN commission did not find evidence of widespread massacres by Israeli forces in Jenin.
However, onOn [[April 30]], Kadoura Mousa Kadoura, the director of Yasser Arafat's [[Fatah]] movement for the northern [[West Bank]], droppedalleged thethat death56 tollPalestinians towere 56killed in peopleJenin, including armed combatants. Further investigation by the United Nations and international reporters confirmed that 52 Palestinians where killed in the operation, 22 of whom were civilians.
=== Human Rights reports ===
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:Unlawful killings violate the "right to life" laid down in Article 6 of the ICCPR. Amnesty International considers that some of these abuses of the right to life would amount to "willful killings" and "willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health" within the meaning of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention dealing with grave breaches of the Convention; "grave breaches" of the Geneva Convention are war crimes.'' -[http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE151432002?open&of=ENG-PSE].
Israeli critics of the report pointed out that commissionsthe inquiries included no urban or counter-terrorist warfare specialists, and therefore they believe theythat the investigators were unable to assess the justifiability of the IDF actions. Israel claimed that the humanitarian organizations were rash to jump to conclusions about Israeli conduct without investigating thoroughly the conduct of the PalestinainPalestinian guerrilla forces in the area. Moreover, theyIsrael feltcomplained that although [[terrorist]]s are civilians by definition, they are still combatants, which made their status different from that of the unarmed civilians. Finally, the human rights groups had not investigated the incidents in which ambulances of the Palestinian Red Crescent and equipment of other aid agencies were accused ofallegedly being used by Palestinian militants to transport weapons and combatants, thus allegedly voiding their nonbelligerent status as defined in the Geneva Convention.
To settle the contradictory claims, a fact finding mission was proposed by the [[United Nations]] on [[April 19]] [[2002]]. Israel initially agreed to co-operate with the inquiry, but demanded a set of conditions to do so. Among thesethe wereconditions, Israel demanded that the mission should include anti-terrorism experts, that the UN agree not to prosecute Israeli soldiers for potential violations of international law, and that it limit its scope exclusively to events in Jenin. The UN refused to accept the last two conditions and were forced to ultimately disbandeddisband thetheir mission. Israel argued that the conditions under which the UN proposed the mission were unfair, as the UN never agreed to give the anti-terrorism expert full membership, did not give the mission a strict mandate, and did not declare the mission solely investigatory (as opposed to having a judicial purpose). According to Israel, all three positions violate of the UN's own principles (as stated in the "Declaration on Fact-finding by the United Nations", A/RES/46/59 of December 9, 1991).
==External links==
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* [http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=239768&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Ha'aretz: Censor bans movie on Jenin offensive]
* [http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=1888373 Reuters: Israeli Film Board Bans Jenin Camp Documentary]
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[[Category:Palestinian Cities]]
[[Category:Israeli-Palestinian conflict]]
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