The United Nations is set to release a “fact finding” report on Israel’s military activities in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield, at the end of March. According to officials who previewed the report, the document concludes that evidence does not support the PLO’s position that IDF soldiers carried out a massacre while battling the town’s terrorist infrastructure. Israel says that only 52 Arabs died in the intense fighting that took place there, the majority of them whom were armed terrorists.



The findings also show that Arab gunmen deliberately placed themselves within civilian areas in an attempt to draw fire, knowing full well that the IDF does its best to avoid injuring non-combatants. 23 Israeli soldiers died the operation, in the course of house-to-house searches for terrorists.



However, the report also criticizes Israel for apparently not allowing first-aid vehicles to treat the wounded. Israel maintains that Arabs hampered their efforts to evacuate those injured in an effort to garner world sympathy.