MEPs tell of ‘scene from hell’ at bulldozed West Bank camp

Date: 25/04/02

By Martin Banks

MEPS have told of their 'utter horror' after visiting the Jenin refugee camp this week.

UK member Roy Perry said: 'It is a scene from hell, something I hope never to see again in my life.'

Perry was part of a 14-strong delegation of deputies who inspected the West Bank camp on Tuesday as part of a three-day fact-finding mission to the Middle East.

Describing the camp as 'an area of utter devastation', Perry said: 'It was tragic and particularly heartbreaking to see children's clothes and pushchairs strewn everywhere.'

Palestinians have claimed that hundreds died in a 'massacre' after Israeli troops entered Jenin on 3 April. Many buildings were destroyed by armoured bulldozers, leaving the camp devastated.

The Israeli government has denied accusations of atrocities, saying that no more than a few dozen were killed and insisting that most were gunmen or terrorists.

Speaking to European Voice from the camp, Conservative member Perry said: 'I, naturally, totally condemn suicide bombing but it is doubtful if anything could justify what appears to have been the systematic destruction of a community where 13,000 people lived.

'I was told that up to 30 bulldozers came into the camp every day for a whole week and everything was simply razed to the ground. It was a scene of utter horror.'

Another member of the group, Dutch Liberal MEP Lousewies van der Laan, said: 'The scale of the destruction in Jenin is shocking.

'I saw one man on his knees using his hands and a spoon to dig through the rubble because he fears his brother is buried underneath.

'The immediate problem is that practical aid, such as heavy equipment to clear the rubble, isn't getting through and this is something we need to address quickly.'

The group, which returned to Brussels yesterday (24 April), met Naomi Chazan, vice-president of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament), EU diplomats and representatives of the peace movement.

While stopping short of outright condemnation of Israel, they said they wanted aid to get through to the region more speedily.

MEPs visited the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank as part of a fact-finding mission to the Middle East, 23 April 2002.