BEIRUT, April 22: UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen on Monday stuck by his criticism of Israel’s assault on the Jenin refugee camp, saying he reacted as any decent human being would have.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Sunday he was disturbed by criticism of Roed-Larsen, the first high-level envoy to enter Jenin, and expressed full confidence in him.
“What I said in Jenin is a description of what I experienced when I was standing there in that pile of rubble that previously was the heart of the refugee camp,” Roed-Larsen said.
His remarks came a day after Israel’s cabinet discussed cutting ties with Roed-Larsen, who on Thursday accused its army of using “morally repugnant” means in Jenin.
The refugee camp was the scene of fierce shelling during Israel’s incursion into Palestinian areas of the West Bank.
“What I did — on the basis of what I saw, what I heard, what I smelt — was to say that this was shocking and horrifying and I think that any decent human being with a heart would have reacted the same way I did and used similar words,” Roed-Larsen said after a meeting with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
“I described what I saw, people with their bare hands digging deformed bodies out of the rubble,” he told reporters. “I stand by what I said.” Israeli ministers have slammed as “one-sided” and “anti-Israeli” the comments of Roed-Larsen, a Norwegian who oversaw secret Israeli-Palestinian talks that led to the 1993 Oslo accords.
Israel’s action in Jenin has provoked sharp criticism from abroad and prompted the UN Security Council to authorize a fact-finding mission to the refugee camp. Roed-Larsen also urged Lebanon to exercise control over its border with Israel, where a string of attacks by Hezbollah on Israeli posts in a disputed area during Israel’s West Bank offensive sparked fears of a broader conflict.—Reuters
