April 11, 2002
B’Tselem Mediates Between the IDF and 29 Palestinians in the Jenin Refugee Camp Requesting to Surrender
At around 23:00 last night, representatives of 29 Palestinians holed up in the Jenin Refugee Camp contacted B’Tselem.
The group requested B’Tselem’s mediation in order to ensure that no harm would come to them if they surrendered to IDF
forces. The group includes three injured people, including a thirteen-year old boy.
B’Tselem conducted protracted mediation efforts between the IDF and the Palestinians. At 6:30 this morning, the group of
29 Palestinians began to leave their building and turn themselves in to the IDF force at the site.
UPDATE: Extra-judicial Executions in Jenin refugee camp; bodies seen in the rubble 10 April 2002
Reports from witnesses in Jenin refugee camp to LAW indicate that from those Palestinian fighters resisting the Israeli
military assault on Jenin refugee camp, a number of those sought to surrender to Israeli forces and were summarily
executed. It has been difficult to confirm exact numbers of those executed, due to the fact that Israeli forces prevent
any of the residents of the refugee camp or any independent monitors from returning or entering the refugee camp.
However, LAW has received the names of two of those fighters, who were apparently executed after their surrender: Ala'
Sabagh and Mahmoud al- Hilou.
Reports indicate that other fighters remaining within the refugee camp, who have stopped their resistance, and seek to
surrender, are being summarily executed.
Witnesses report that when leaving the refugee camp, they saw bodies of residents that appeared to be run over by
military bulldozers and bodies within the rubble of homes and shelters that had been destroyed. They expressed their
fears that they did not know whether all the bodies in the rubble were dead or injured persons.
LAW understands that the majority of the residents from the camp, after being forcibly expelled by Israeli forces,
earlier today, have still not been allowed to return. These refugees are now currently scattered throughout the area,
surrounding the refugee camp.
Various sources from the refugee camp, estimate that at least 30 percent of the total area of the camp, including homes
and shelters, have been totally destroyed.
LAW calls for an international protection force to protect civilians to be deployed immediately in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories and for an international investigative body to be immediately despatched to investigate this
apparent evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, perpetrated by the Israeli forces, including in Jenin
refugee camp. ____________________________
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organisation
dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ), the Federation Internationale des Ligues de Droits de l'Homme (FIDH) and the World Organisation Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT).
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, PO Box 20873, Jerusalem, tel.
+972-2-5833530, fax. +972-2-5833317, email: law@lawsociety.org, web: www.lawsociety.org
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NB: Full transcript of the war crimes panel available on the Gush site
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French available at request.
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