Here we have such brave "undercover Israeli special forces ... opened fire on the Alfahmaui restaurant, which was filled with breakfasting patrons". A murderous terrorist excursion party indeed.
Man killed by Israeli Military this Morning in Jenin Restaurant June 17, 2004 By MIFTAH
The devastation wreaked by Israeli military on the battered refugee camp of Jenin continued unabated today. Early this morning, undercover Israeli special forces, dressed in civilian clothes and arriving in the city in Palestinian cars, opened fire on the Alfahmaui restaurant, which was filled with breakfasting patrons. One man, allegedly a member of Fatah's military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Majed Al Sa’di, was hit by a volley of bullets and died on the spot; another, (thus far unnamed) taxi driver was injured, as were four other men, including an employee of the restaurant. In addition, five Palestinians were detained and taken to unidentified locations.
The international human rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch, has previously charged Israel of having committed war crimes during its military operations in Jenin. In a strongly-worded 48 page report published in May 2002, HRW, in addition to finding that many civilians in Jenin have been killed “willfully and unlawfully”, also found that the Israeli military used Palestinian civilians as human shields and used indiscriminate and excessive force during its operations. "The abuses we documented in Jenin are extremely serious, and in some cases appear to be war crimes," Peter Bouckaert, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch has said. "Criminal investigations are needed to ascertain individual responsibility for the most serious violations. Such investigations are first and foremost the duty of the Israeli government, but the international community needs to ensure that meaningful accountability occurs."
While the Israeli army has expressed “deep sorrow” in the past over what it calls the accidental loss of civilian life in Jenin, these losses, as evidenced by today’s events, continue to mount.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, on Monday 14 June, a leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades, Zakaria Zubeidi, had announced on Israel radio that he would halt attacks against Israel if its army were to pull out of Jenin: "I'll have no problem stopping attacks after an Israeli retreat and when they no longer come in every day with their tanks to kill us," Zubeidi had said. "When they have left Jenin, there will be no more attacks against the Israelis emanating from this town." As is clear from today’s events, announcements and overtures such as these appear to have had little effect on the Israeli military.
