GENOCIDE, BARBARIC ASSAULT ON JENIN CAMP, CITY AMMAN, APRIL 7 (KUNA) -- THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY BROADCAST AN URGENT PLEA TO ALL ARAB AND FOREIGN AUTHORITIES TO "INTERVENE IMMEDIATELY TO SPARE THE LIVES OF PALESTINIANS IN JENIN WHO ARE BRAVELY STANDING THEIR GROUND AGAINST A VISCIOUS ASSAULT LED BY WAR CRIMINAL ISRAELI ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF SHAUL MOFAZ." THE STATEMENT SAID BULLDOZERS, WAR PLANES AND ARMY MACHINERY ARE DESTROYING THE CAMP AND PEOPLE ARE CAUGHT UNDER THE RUBBLE. THE WOUNDED ARE NOT ATTENDED TO NOR ARE BODIES CARRIED AWAY FOR DECENT BURIAL, IT ADDED.
FIERCE BATTLE CONTINUES IN JENIN SINCE YESTERDAY MORNING AS CHOPPERS AND TANKS BOMBARD THE CAMP AND THE CITY WHERE PALESTINIAN ACTIVISTS ARE HIDING. ISRAELI MILITARY SOURCES HAD EARLIER SAID THE ISRAELI ARMY GOT TO THE HEART OF JENIN REFUGEE CAMP THIS MORNING AFTER DAYS OF HOUSE TO HOUSE BATTLE.
THOUGH NOT A MAJOR CITY WITH A POPULATION OF 100,000 PEOPLE INCLUDING OCCUPANTS OF PARAMETER TOWNS, JENIN HAS A STRATEGIC LOCATION AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE.
125-250 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL, IT WAS ONCE A POST STATION CONNECTING EGYPT AND NEAR ARAB COUNTRIES DURING WORLD WAR I, IT WAS A MAJOR GERMAN AIRFORCE AIRPORT TILL 1918 WHEN THE BRITISH TOOK OVER. IT LATER WITNESSED THE BIRTH OF THE FIRST ORGANIZED REVOLT AGAINST BRITISH RULE LED BY EZZEDEEN AL-QASSAM IN 1935.
DURING WORLD WARII, SPECIFICALLY IN 1941, THE CITY WAS CHOSEN FOR THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE BRITISH NEAR EAST STATION. SINCE THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF THE CITY IN 1967, ONLY 13 OUT OF 19 TOWNS REMAIN AS THE REST OF THE TERRITORY WAS SEIZED TO ESTABLISH 21 ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS THAT REMAIN TO DATE.
AN OFFICIAL PALESTINIAN STATEMENT TODAY SAID ISRAELI FORCES ARE STILL COMMITING ACTS OF GENOCIDE AND WAR CRIMES AGAINST THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS AND ACTS OF SACRILLAGE AGAINST ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN HOLY LANDMARKS.
IT ADDED THAT MANY GUARDS IN PA LEADER'S BESIEGED HEADQUARTERS WERE INJURED LAST NIGHT AFTER MORTAR SHELLS, MISSILES AND MACHINE GUN TARGETED THE HEADQUARTERS.
IN ANOTHER RECENT INCIDENT AT DAWN, AN EYEWITNESS AND FAMILY MEMBER OF ONE OF THE VICTIMS SAID ISRAELI SOLDIERS BROKE INTO HOMES IN JENIN CAMP, SEPARATED THE MEN FROM THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND THEN LED FIVE MEN TO THE STREET WHERE THEY WERE SHOT DEAD FROM CLOSE RANGE. TWO OF THE FIVE MARTYRS WERE 70 YEARS OF AGE, A THIRD WAS 60 AND THE OTHER TWO WERE AGED 37 AND 38. (END) SN.KZ.SR.WSA