The United Nation Secretary General's report on events in Jenin and other Palestinian cities delivered a devastating blow to the UN's credibility. The report fails to concisely consider the violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Israeli forces and as a result places the blame equally on Israelis and Palestinians. Doomed from the beginning, the shortcomings of this report come as no surprise. Originally a commission of inquiry was established to investigate, but Israel objected and the inquiry was reduced to a fact-finding mission that meets the approval of Israel. However, even this did not meet with Israel's blessings and that is how we arrived at this report, which was produced using "available resources and information." In essence, the UN was not allowed to send field workers to gather primary information, but, rather, had to rely on available information from interested parties such as the EU and the PA. Israel staunchly refused to co-operate and did not contribute to the report!

This report seems to ignore that it was the Palestinians who where attacked on lands illegally occupied by Israel. The placing of blame on Palestinians who defied the Israeli army seems to be depriving Palestinians of a right to self-defense, as guaranteed through the Declaration of Principals. Furthermore, the report seems to conclude that all Palestinians who take up an armed struggle against an Israeli attack on Palestinian land are 'terrorists'. Even though the report refers to Israel's unlawful killings, the use of human shields, disproportional use of force, arbitrary arrests, torture and denial of medical treatment, it stops short of condemning these acts as war crimes in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The fact that it was Palestinian civilian areas that got attacked during the month long Israeli operation was hardly stressed enough. Between March 29 and April 17, the Israeli forces claimed the lives of 491 Palestinians and wounded a further 1,447, 80% of whom were civilians. Israeli forces destroyed 2,800 refugee housing-units and 878 Palestinian homes, leaving 17,000 people homeless. 7000 Palestinians were arrested simply for being between the ages of 15 to 45 and they were callously treated, as they were deprived of lavatories, food, blankets and any contact with their families for long periods of time.

While perhaps there was no massacre in Jenin alone, the culmination of those killed throughout the West Bank easily justifies the use of the word massacre and in fact even merits the term 'genocide'. The controversy surrounding the term 'massacre' seems to have diverted attention away from the fact that hundreds of Palestinians through out the West Bank were killed during Operation Defensive Shield. Sadly, the fact that only 52 Palestinians were killed in Jenin has allowed the report to substantiate Israel's proclaimed innocence and disguise Israel's innumerable international law violations.