| POWELL: NO MASSACRE IN JENIN (INN/04/25/02) |
| U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that there is no evidence that IDF forces carried out a massacre in Jenin. Speaking before the Senate Appropriations Foreign Operations Sub-committee, Powell said, "Clearly people died in Jenin, people who were terrorists died in Jenin and in the (course) of that battle innocent lives may well have been lost... Right now I've seen no evidence of mass graves and I've seen no evidence that would suggest a massacre took place." Powell based his comments on a meeting he had with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, who paid a visit to Jenin after the Operation Defensive Shield battles there. Despite Powell's comments, PLO officials continue to claim that Israel carried out a massacre in Jenin. However, according to an April 22nd report featured on CNN's website (CNN.com), a senior of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who surrendered to Israeli forces there describes the battle as "a very hard fight" in which both sides took casualties, but said he didn't see "tens of people" killed by the Israeli army. |