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Saeb Erekat

Saeb Erakat (Sa'ib Muhammad Salih 'Urayqat. Arabic: صائب عريقات, born 1955) was the chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee, from which he negotiated with Israel regarding the Oslo Accords from 1995 until his resignation in protest from the Palestinian government, in May 2003. He quickly reconciled with his party, and was reappointed to the post in September 2003. ^[1]

Erekat has participated in numerous peace negotiations with Israel, including Camp David meetings in 2000, and negotiations at Taba in 2001. When Mahmoud Abbas was nominated to serve as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Legislative Council in early 2003, Erekat was slated to be part of the new cabinet and was assigned as the Minister of Negotiations, but he soon resigned after he was not included in a delegation to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Saeb Erekat was born on April 28 1955 in Jerusalem. He is married with twin daughters and two sons. Erekat received a BA and MA in International Relations at San Francisco State University, and he received a doctorate in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in England. He returned to lecture in Political Science at the An-Najah National University in the West Bank town of Nablus, and also served for 12 years on the editorial board of Palestinian newspaper al-Quds. Erekat is the author of eight books and numerous research papers on foreign policy, oil and conflict resolution. He also served as secretary general of the Arab Studies Society.

Saeb Erekat is currently part of the Israeli-Fatah negotiations team and is working to add Palestine next to Israel on the map in peace.^[2]

Battle of Jenin controversy

In April 2002, during the Battle of Jenin, Palestinian representatives, Saeb Erekat being one of the most prominent among them, repeatedly claimed claimed that the Israeli army had indiscriminately massacred at least 500 Palestinian civilians in the refugee camp of Jenin.

Human Rights Watch did not find evidence to support claims that the IDF massacred hundreds of Palestinians in the camp.^[3] but that "The abuses we documented in Jenin are extremely serious, and in some cases appear to be war crimes". Amnesty documented one small massacre, 3 unresisting men lined up and shot in an alleyway.^[4] The UN put the death-toll as at least 52, but not the 500 that Erekat had alleged.^[5]

Israeli media leveled the accusation that "the international press prefers hype to facts."^[6]

Example statements about the fighting

In the April 10, 2002 interview with CNN's Bill Hemmer, Erekat said: "I'm afraid to say that the number of Palestinian dead in the Israeli attacks have reached more than 500 now. And I think the number may increase once we discover the extent of the damage and the massacres committed in -- particularly in the Jenin refugee camp and in the whole city of Nablus."[1]

On April 12, he repeated the charge on CNN: "a real massacre was committed in the Jenin refugee camp." He added that 300 Palestinians were being buried in mass graves."

On April 15, Erakat continued his charges: "And I stand by the term 'massacres' were committed in the refugee camps." He also began to refer to Israeli actions as "war crimes."

On April 17 Erekat stated on CNN that 500 Palestinians had been killed in Jenin. He suggested to Wolf Blitzer that, "How about if we form an international commission of inquiry, let them go to Jenin with the equipment needed ... to get the results and to decide how many people were massacred. And we say the number will not be less than 500."^[7]

References

External links

[BBC-1] Profile: Saeb Erakat BBC News, 4 September 2003

[2] Q & A with Saeb Erekat Jerusalem Post, 1 February 2005

[3] Israel/Occupied Territories: Jenin War Crimes Investigation Needed. Verified 16 Oct 2007.

[4] Israel and the Occupied Territories Shielded from scrutiny: IDF violations in Jenin and Nablus. Verified 16 Oct 2007.

[5] UN Report on Jenin

[6] 'Jenin massacre syndrome' by Sever Plocker (Yedioth Ahronoth)

[7] CNN Transcripts: 'Secretary Powell Leaves Middle East Empty Handed; Palestinians Remain Under Israeli Siege'

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 {{Main|Battle of Jenin}}
-In April 2002, during the [[Battle of Jenin]], Palestinian representatives, Saeb Erekat being one of the most prominent among them, repeatedly claimed claimed that the Israeli army had indiscriminately massacred at least 500 Palestinian civilians in the refugee camp of [[Jenin]]. As the dust settled it became clear that no such massacre had happened.
+In April 2002, during the [[Battle of Jenin]], Palestinian representatives, Saeb Erekat being one of the most prominent among them, repeatedly claimed claimed that the Israeli army had indiscriminately massacred at least 500 Palestinian civilians in the refugee camp of [[Jenin]].
-Statements by Amnesty and Human Rights Watch say there was no evidence of a massacre, and Palestinian Fatah investigators claimed the death toll is 56, announced by [[Qadoura Mousa]], the Fatah director for the Northern West Bank.<ref name="Qadoura56">[http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/jenin.htm 'Jenin "massacre" reduced to death toll of 56' by Paul Martin, ''Washington Times'' (host site)] [http://www.rense.com/general24/dt.htm (mirror host)]</ref> The UN put the final death toll at approx. 52 Palestinians, more than half of them armed fighters, and it concluded that no civilians were killed deliberately; Israel lost 23 men.<ref name=UN> [http://www.un.org/peace/jenin/ UN Report on Jenin]</ref>
+Human Rights Watch did not find evidence to support claims that the IDF massacred hundreds of Palestinians in the camp.<ref>[http://hrw.org/english/docs/2002/05/03/isrlpa3899.htm Israel/Occupied Territories: Jenin War Crimes Investigation Needed]. Verified 16 Oct 2007.</ref> but that "The abuses we documented in Jenin are extremely serious, and in some cases appear to be war crimes". Amnesty documented one small massacre, 3 unresisting men lined up and shot in an alleyway.<ref>[http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engMDE151432002 Israel and the Occupied Territories Shielded from scrutiny: IDF violations in Jenin and Nablus. Verified 16 Oct 2007.]</ref> The UN put the death-toll as at least 52, but not the 500 that Erekat had alleged.<ref> [http://www.un.org/peace/jenin/ UN Report on Jenin]</ref>
 Israeli media leveled the accusation that "the international press prefers hype to facts."<ref>[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3280038,00.html 'Jenin massacre syndrome' by Sever Plocker (Yedioth Ahronoth)]</ref>
 === Example statements about the fighting ===
 In the April 10, 2002 interview with CNN's Bill Hemmer, Erekat said:
 "I'm afraid to say that the number of Palestinian dead in the Israeli attacks have reached more than 500 now. And I think the number may increase once we discover the extent of the damage and the massacres committed in -- particularly in the Jenin refugee camp and in the whole city of [[Nablus]]."[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3033601.stm]

Revision as of 20:53, 16 October 2007

Battle of Jenin controversy

Example statements about the fighting

See also

References

External links