What happened in Jenin

August 6, 2002

`The whole world is against us," goes the refrain of a popular Israeli song. Often in Israel's history, that sentiment has been understandable. Last April was one such time.

Following a horrendous suicide bombing in which 29 Israelis were killed at a Passover service in Netanya, Israeli forces entered Palestinian towns to root out terrorists and demolish infrastructure. In Jenin's refugee camp, where Israel said at least 23 suicide bombers had been trained, the Israeli troops met unprecedented resistance from armed Palestinian militants, and fierce fighting raged for 10 days.

The Israelis finally pulled out of Jenin saying they had done what they came to do, at the cost of 23 soldiers' lives. Army officials said they had uncovered explosives caches and arrested terrorist suspects, including 10 young men who had already made martyr videos to be used after their deaths in suicide attacks against Israelis.

But the Palestinians won a greater victory in the propaganda war. The international press filed daily stories quoting Palestinian officials as saying hundreds of civilians had been "massacred" in Jenin by Israeli forces who buried them under the rubble of bulldozed homes.

American newspapers were relatively skeptical, pointing out that those charges could not be verified and that Israel denied them. But many in the European media, perhaps reflecting widespread sympathy on that continent for the Palestinian cause, accepted the allegations uncritically. The Israeli operation was compared to the mass murders in Sabra and Shatila and the ethnic cleansing in Srebrenica.

Israel didn't help. For several days it refused to allow journalists or aid workers into the Jenin camp, reinforcing the impression it had something to hide. But even after it became clear there was no evidence to support the rumors of a massacre, much of the European press continued to talk about Israel's "war crimes" in Jenin. Now, finally, an official UN report has established that there was no massacre. The 42-page document puts the Palestinian death toll at 52, more than half of them armed combatants. The report does not let Israel off the hook entirely. It blames both Israelis and Palestinian militants for putting civilians in harm's way, and it criticizes Israel for refusing to allow humanitarian agencies in until days after the fighting had ended. It also notes that the report had to be compiled entirely from secondary sources: Israel barred UN investigators for fear they would be biased.

Nevertheless, Israeli officials heaved a collective sigh of vindication and hailed the report for "repudiating the vicious lies" about Jenin.

Fair enough.