August 2, 2002	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22,1423

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UNITED NATIONS, Aug 1: A United Nations report on an Israeli assault on the Jenin refugee camp in April has accused Tel Aviv of using massive force by applying heavy weaponry in civilian areas, killing 52 Palestinians.

However, the Secretary General’s report written following Israel’s refusal to allow a UN fact-finding team into the camp absolved Israel of any massacre, diplomats who saw the advance copy of the report said.

The report avoided using the word “massacre”, as many Human rights organizations and the Palestinian had demanded. It also avoided making a judgment about whether any massacre occurred during Israel’s “Operation Defensive Shield” into West Bank cities between March 29 and April 21.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Shimon Peres approved the fact- finding mission on April 19, saying it had “nothing to hide”, but later objected to the team’s makeup and mandate forcing Secretary General Kofi Annan to disband the team.

The violence in Jenin came amid an Israeli offensive across the West Bank launched on March 29 in response to a suicide bombing that killed 29 Israelis. The Jenin camp saw the heaviest fighting, and Palestinian Minister Saeb Erekat said in mid-April that 500 people had been killed.

But the UN report said only 52 Palestinian deaths had been confirmed by April 18, and that up to half may have been civilians. It called the Palestinian allegation that some 500 were killed “a figure that has not been substantiated in the light of evidence that has emerged”, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Israel has repeatedly denied that any massacre took place, putting the number of Palestinians killed in the dozens.

The report was also expected to look into attacks on other Palestinian cities attacked by the Israeli army.

Between March 1 and the beginning of May, the report said, 497 Palestinians were killed during Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank.

It accused Israel of increasing the suffering of Palestinian civilians by imposing curfews, closing off cities and delaying access to medical care and humanitarian aid, diplomats said.

It also charged Palestinian militants with deliberately putting their fighters and equipment in civilian areas in violation of international law, according to diplomats.

On some key issues, the report simply gave both sides’ positions and said it was in no position to make a judgment.

The report was based on information from UN officials, the Palestinians, five UN member states, private relief organizations and documents in the public domain.