Our blogs about
America's Wars
War on Iraq
War on Drugs
War on Afghanistan
War on Columbia
War on Philippines
War on Venezuela

More
Matrix Masters
Blogs
World Events
US News
Science & Health
Earth News
Free Speech
News from Africa
News from Palestine
Bill of Rights Under Attack

Matrix Masters'
SUPPORTERS

Lorenzo's
Random Musings
. . . about Chaos,
Reason, and Hope

 

UN agency demands Israeli apology for "malicious propaganda"
(TurkishPress.com, October 10, 2004)
A UN agency chief demanded an "immediate public retraction" from the Israeli government Monday after it accused his staff of allowing an ambulance to be abused by Palestinian militants to carry weapons. . . . In a strongly worded letter to Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, Peter Hansen, said the Israeli charges were "malicious propaganda" that endangered the lives of UN staff in the Gaza Strip amid the army's deadly six-day-old incursion. . . . "It is appalling that, with the serious conflict now raging in the northern Gaza Strip, where UNRWA ambulances are operating in constant danger alongside those of other humanitarian agencies to try and save and transport scores of wounded Palestinians to hospital, the government of Israel would put out such deliberately inciteful, false and malicious propaganda," Hansen wrote. . . . He said such allegations were likely to endanger UN staff in the territory as it would encourage "soldiers on the ground, or in the air, to think that UNRWA ambulances and other humanitarian vehicles are transporting terrorists and weapons". . . . "I request an immediate public retraction and apology from the government of Israel," he said. . . . The grainy footage released by the Israeli army Saturday purporting to show Palestinian militants using a UN ambulance to transport rockets sparked a furious war of words between UNWRA and Israel. . . . After viewing the film clip Sunday, Hansen said the blurry pictures, taken by an Israeli drone, showed nothing more than paramedics throwing a folded portable stretcher into the vehicle. . . . In his letter, the UNWRA chief said the only explanation for the distortion was deliberate malice on Israel's part. . . . "Given the technical means and military expertise at the disposal of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to enlarge and analyse the pictures taken by the drone, it is inconceivable that the IDF could have made this egregiously erroneous allegation in good faith." . . . Hansen also took issue with the "personally offensive and distorted accusations of bias" levelled at him by Israeli officials. . . . UNWRA spokesman Matthias Burchard told reporters in Geneva that Israeli armour had taken position in three of the agency's schools in the Gza Strip, while children were still in class. . . . "They have now taken positions in these three schools and (are) using them as a military camp for their ongoing campaign, using them also as firing positions," Burchard said. . . . "UNRWA strongly protests the totally unacceptable misuse of clearly marked UN installations and calls on the Israeli military to respect the neutrality of these places," he added.

posted by LoZo 11:34 AM