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Middle East
Israeli Army Leaves Jenin Ruins
2002-04-19
  • The Israeli army pulled out of Jenin Friday as Palestinian residents of the town's devastated refugee camp dug for corpses and international aid workers moved in to help the homeless and trace the missing. An Israeli armored unit also withdrew from Qalqilya, another West Bank town, after an overnight raid, witnesses said. Troops had left Qalqilya on April 9 but swept back in to search for suspected militants. Israel's defense minister had said troops would quit Jenin and Nablus by Sunday but stay at the Ramallah compound of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem until standoffs with militants ended.
    The post-mortem accusations are already under way. Since they were in a lose-lose situation, it's probably just as well that they decided to lose by taking out as many Bad Guys as they could lay hands on. Yasser will draw out the church siege as long as he possibly can, years if everything goes right, and he'll do the same with his Ramallah HQ. The best move for Sharon would be to leave the tanks parked there until a couple weeks after Doomsday. The bitching and moaning will continue, reach a crescendo, and then gradually fade as Yasser without plumbing becomes the natural order of things. The question is, can the US take the heat?
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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