The IDF Spokesman's Office disseminated a short video clip yesterday, showing terrorists loading a UN ambulance van with a Kassam rocket. The van was later attacked by an IDF helicopter. The video clip can be seen here on Reuters' "World Channel."
Other clips released by the IDF show terrorists firing Kassams from within the yard of a private house and from within civilian population centers. The films were taken by an Israeli drone (unmanned aircraft).
UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Work Agency) Gaza district chief Peter Hansen responded to the allegations by saying, "We want to get to the bottom of this" - but at the same time denied the accusations. Hansen said that the item seen being placed into the UN ambulance van is not a rocket but rather a stretcher. He said that a rocket weighs close to 50 kilograms [32 kilograms, or 70 lbs. - ed.], and that "only Goliath and not even a weight-lifting champion could lift such a heavy weight and throw it with one hand into the back of the van," as the filmed terrorist can be construed as doing. Israeli sources noted, however, that a simpler version of the rocket, known as the Kassam-1, weighs only 5.5 kilos (12 lbs.), and that it was this weapon that was being loaded.
Israel officially demands Hansen's dismissal, based on this and several other apparent incidents of pro-Palestinian activity by him. A letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan by Israel's Ambassador Dan Gillerman states, "Hansen has ministerial and practical responsibility for the disreputable use of the UN van and the transport of the lethal Kassams... Instead of serving the interests of peace, the UN enlists in Gaza... on the side of terrorism."
Israel has documented UN involvement in past attacks perpetrated by Hamas as well as by Hizbullah. Most significantly, a UN vehicle was used in October 2000 to abduct IDF soldiers from Israel's northern border, leading to the deaths of three soldiers. Other attacks have involved UN vehicles assigned to Arabs living in PLO-controlled areas.
Arnold Beichman, scholar and research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, wrote in the Washington Times in May 2002, "UNIFIL, the U.N. force stationed on the Israel-Lebanon border, hid a videotape of Israeli soldiers being abducted by Hizbullah in October 2000. After finally admitting to having the tape, the U.N. would only show an edited version (in which Hezbollah faces were hidden) to the Israeli government. They claimed they needed to maintain neutrality between a member state and a terrorist group."
Other clips released by the IDF show terrorists firing Kassams from within the yard of a private house and from within civilian population centers. The films were taken by an Israeli drone (unmanned aircraft).
UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Work Agency) Gaza district chief Peter Hansen responded to the allegations by saying, "We want to get to the bottom of this" - but at the same time denied the accusations. Hansen said that the item seen being placed into the UN ambulance van is not a rocket but rather a stretcher. He said that a rocket weighs close to 50 kilograms [32 kilograms, or 70 lbs. - ed.], and that "only Goliath and not even a weight-lifting champion could lift such a heavy weight and throw it with one hand into the back of the van," as the filmed terrorist can be construed as doing. Israeli sources noted, however, that a simpler version of the rocket, known as the Kassam-1, weighs only 5.5 kilos (12 lbs.), and that it was this weapon that was being loaded.
Israel officially demands Hansen's dismissal, based on this and several other apparent incidents of pro-Palestinian activity by him. A letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan by Israel's Ambassador Dan Gillerman states, "Hansen has ministerial and practical responsibility for the disreputable use of the UN van and the transport of the lethal Kassams... Instead of serving the interests of peace, the UN enlists in Gaza... on the side of terrorism."
Israel has documented UN involvement in past attacks perpetrated by Hamas as well as by Hizbullah. Most significantly, a UN vehicle was used in October 2000 to abduct IDF soldiers from Israel's northern border, leading to the deaths of three soldiers. Other attacks have involved UN vehicles assigned to Arabs living in PLO-controlled areas.
Arnold Beichman, scholar and research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, wrote in the Washington Times in May 2002, "UNIFIL, the U.N. force stationed on the Israel-Lebanon border, hid a videotape of Israeli soldiers being abducted by Hizbullah in October 2000. After finally admitting to having the tape, the U.N. would only show an edited version (in which Hezbollah faces were hidden) to the Israeli government. They claimed they needed to maintain neutrality between a member state and a terrorist group."