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Revision as of 17:46, 13 September 2007 editJaakobou (talk | contribs)15,880 edits →Palestine Authority claim 56 dead?: new section← Previous edit Revision as of 20:33, 13 September 2007 edit undoEleland (talk | contribs)8,909 edits →Palestine Authority claim 56 dead?Next edit →
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===comments/support/object reliability=== ===comments/support/object reliability===
* '''support reliability''' - best i can see, the source fits my understanding of ]. <b><font face="Arial" color="teal">]</font><font color="1F860E"><sup>'']''</sup></font></b> 17:46, 13 September 2007 (UTC) * '''support reliability''' - best i can see, the source fits my understanding of ]. <b><font face="Arial" color="teal">]</font><font color="1F860E"><sup>'']''</sup></font></b> 17:46, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

* The ] is a fringe paper controlled by a religious cult. Paul Martin was accused of fabricating false quotations of Arab militant groups by Canada's national broadcaster, an accusation which has not been retracted. The P.A.'s official website alleges and that "the Israeli forces, during the massacre, transferred the bodies of the dead to be buried away from the refugee camp in order to conceal the evidences of the massacre." ] 20:33, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

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Archives
Archive 1

Malam Report (Hebrew)

I found this very interesting source, i thing we should add info from this to the article.. maybe i'll find time to do this soon, but i can't do it today.

main article: martyr city Attachments main: UNRWA terror supporter image sample attachment: translation and original

Jaakobou 16:43, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

war crimes

to resolve the dispute about who did what and how the war crimes should be attributed i open this subsesction so that we can handle this dispute properly.

please add all sources relating to who did what either to Israeli war crimes, Palestinian war crimes, or Both were complicit, make your comments on the comments section.

note: please pay careful attention to who says what on your provided sources, don't misrepresent, and try to keep it short and easy to follow. Jaakobou 10:46, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Israeli war crimes

  • Palestinian report submitted to the Secretary-General -
    • http://www.un.org/peace/jenin/
      • relevant quote: Many credible sources have reported about atrocities committed... prima facie evidence of war crimes... it is probable that a massacre and a crime against humanity might have been committed... enhanced by the statements made at some point by the occupying forces... and their reported attempts to move bodies from the camp to what they referred to as the graveyards of the enemy.
      • note: if you wish to expand/discuss on the palestinian part of this source in length, please start a new subsection. Jaakobou 10:46, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Palestinian war crimes

  • An bomb-maker from Jenin refugee camp gives testimony about his activity.
    • http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/582/6inv2.htm
      • relevant quotes:
        • "We cut off lengths of mains water pipes and packed them with explosives and nails. Then we placed them about four metres apart throughout the houses -- in cupboards, under sinks, in sofas.".."everyone in the camp, including the children, knew where the explosives were located so that there was no danger of civilians being injured."
        • "We all stopped shooting and the women went out to tell the soldiers that we had run out of bullets and were leaving." The women alerted the fighters as the soldiers reached the booby- trapped area."...'"When the senior officers realised what had happened, they shouted through megaphones that they wanted an immediate cease-fire. We let them approach to retrieve the men and then opened fire."
        • note: if you wish to expand/discuss on the palestinian part of this source in length, please start a new subsection. Jaakobou 14:47, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Both were complicit

  • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2165272.stm
  • UN - Report of the Secretary-General
    • http://www.un.org/peace/jenin/
      • relevant quote: 32. Of particular concern is the use, by combatants on both sides, of violence that placed civilians in harm's way. Much of the fighting during Operation Defensive Shield occurred in areas heavily populated by civilians, in large part because the armed Palestinian groups sought by IDF placed their combatants and installations among civilians. Palestinian groups are alleged to have widely booby-trapped civilian homes, acts targeted at IDF personnel but also putting civilians in danger. IDF is reported to have used bulldozers, tank shelling and rocket firing, at times from helicopters, in populated areas.
      • note: if you wish to expand/discuss on the Secratery-General part of this source in length, please start a new subsection. Jaakobou 12:39, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

war crimes comments

  • comment - I will not enter a pseudo-vote on the grounds that it is ridiculous to subject clear questions of fact to such a process. It is abundantly clear that credible third party observers (Amnesty, HRW) only used the words "war crimes" or the legalistic equivalent "grave breaches " when describing Israeli actions in Jenin. Palestinian fighters were criticized for putting civilians in harm's way, but that is not the same as saying they were accused of war crimes. Much like the earlier "genocide" discussion, there seems to be a persistent confusion between editors' personal interpretations of claims made, and the actual claims. For example, the report listed under "both were complicit" simply doesn't use the phrase "war crimes" in any context at all. After several fairly deep Google searches (getting in to obscure Likudnik blogs and the like) I simply haven't found any accusations of "war crimes" or "grave breaches" by Palestinians during the battle, even by extremist partisans of Israel. In summary, there is no objective reason to discuss this at all. Eleland 12:31, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
    • comment - Per Eleland, this is silly. Only one source has been listed under "Both were complicit," and this one source never mentions "war crimes." A while back Eleland wrote a version of the lead that handled the matter with elegant fairness: "Subsequent investigations by major human rights organizations found prima facie evidence of Israeli war crimes, while casting doubt on allegations of a deliberate massacre. Some investigations also criticized Palestinian fighters for operating in close proximity to civilians, but found that the only deliberate use of Palestinians as "human shields" was by Israel."--G-Dett 16:27, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
      • reply comment - User:G-Dett, please go over the sources, you've just quoted a phrasing used by the palestinian submission to the UN, who also alleged on that submission a very large possibility for mass graves. I would add some extra commentary, but i suggest we not turn this into polemics and just expose the sources and what everyone said. Jaakobou 17:52, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
        • question - Um, huh? I quoted a sentence from Eleland's lead proposal above; the sentence is accurately sourced to Amnesty and Human Rights Watch. What are you talking about? And why are you talking about mass graves?--G-Dett 18:10, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
          • reply - please go over Talk:Battle_of_Jenin#Israeli_war_crimes. Jaakobou 19:31, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
            • Jaakobou, I don't know or care whether the phrase "prima facie evidence of war crimes" appeared in the Palestinan submission to the UN, but as I properly indicated in my preferred intro version, HRW said "There is a strong prima facie evidence that, in the cases noted below, IDF personnel committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, or war crimes," and Amnesty said "In Jenin and Nablus the IDF carried out actions which violate international human rights and humanitarian law; some of these actions amount to grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949 (the Fourth Geneva Convention) and are war crimes.". You'll note that I actually chose the less strongly worded of the two, "prima facie evidence" at least allowing the possibility that some subsequent investigation will disprove the evidence. By the way, can we stop with this comment and reply comment thing? It's not a straw poll. Eleland 21:25, 18 August 2007 (UTC)


  • comment - this is not a vote, this is a summary of the refs as we have and some categorization of them so that we can have a clearer image on who said what and each person can make a more knowledgeable assessment that is not only based on hunches and preconceived beliefs. please add your references and try to keep commentary short and easy to follow. Jaakobou 17:52, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
    • reply comment - How's this for short and easy to follow: you've provided no sourced references to Palestinian war crimes, and there don't appear to be any.--G-Dett 18:04, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
      • reply - the reference section is incomplete, i've started it out for the other editors to work on. please focus on improving this talk section so we can move forward with this dispute. Jaakobou 19:23, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
  • comment - Generally speaking, a dispute involves two or more sides making a case and presenting evidence for it, rather than one side making a case and asking the other side to provide evidence for it "so we can move forward". Quite simply, nether G-Dett nor I have found any sources which accuse Palestinians of war crimes - the closest I could find was a really slipshod pro-Israel blog which ranted about "UN complicity in war crimes" on the basis that UNRWA was running schools and hospitals in Jenin, so they should be able to forcibly prevent Islamic Jihad from running cells in the camp, but it was a reference to suicide bombings and not to the actual battle. The way to "move forward" would be to avoid raising spurious disputes which do not exist in the source material, which is abundant and clear. Eleland 19:31, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
    • comment - it would be helpful if you focus on what you can contribute rather than what you can't. Jaakobou 19:34, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
      • Wow, Jaakobou, you said it. It would be nice if I could focus on positive contributions. Unfortunately, I can't make them — or rather, I can make them but I will be reverted on shabby pretexts within hours. And on the talk page, I can't make positive contributions because they keep getting bogged down with spurious disputes which do not exist in the source material. I'll say it one more time: No sources have been found, nor by all evidence do any reliable sources exist, which accuse the Palestinian side in the Battle of Jenin of committing war crimes. Eleland 21:38, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Genocide II

as i've stated before, i intended to leave this issue out until i make a deeper inspection. i present some sources and hope to hear some perspectives and opinions on these sources. Jaakobou 04:51, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

the previous talk about this can be found here: .

sources

1) (translated) , (original)

"The cry of distress : Israeli army committed genocide in the Jenin refugee"

2) (translated), (original)

"often to the point of genocide, the deliberate, as in "Gaza" recently In the Jenin refugee camp"

3) (translated), (original)

"What happened in Jenin was genocide undoubtedly"

4) Jeningrad: what the british media said

- "we are talking here of massacre, and a cover-up, of genocide."

g-comments

(struck my comment, I didn't notice the Google translations - will comment again shortly) Eleland 11:33, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

0) Thanks for the effort to find sources.

1) Google machine translations are unreliable, although in at least one case the author is clearly discussing genocide, this is not clear in all 3.

2) We need to know who these sources are; are they reprints of print media or just some websites? If they're print, what kind of circulation and influence do they have? If they're websites, is there any exceptional reason to believe they are significant? Eleland 12:00, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

pallywood

i'm starting up a section regarding this dispute over the "see also" inclusion/exclusion of the Pallywood article.

feel free to give your commentary regarding your position on this issue in the following subsections, try to keep it short and to the point. for generic commentary/questions leave your comment on the proper subsection. Jaakobou 23:49, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

include pallywood

  • i'm surprised someone is contesting that "the big jenin lie" is not referred to as events (allegedly) staged by Palestinians to portray Israel in an unfavorable light. Jaakobou 23:49, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
    • comment - See WP:UNDUE. If you want to include a section on how both Israelis and Palestinians (and their respective supporters) have exploited Jenin for propaganda purposes, that could be done. Let's do it cooperatively, and with an eye to WP:NPOV. In the meantime, let's not insert an insinuating link to a decidedly marginal term that many consider offensive if not downright racist. "Pallywood" is used by a handful of right-wing bloggers, and to most educated ears sounds like "Jew York Times."--G-Dett 00:12, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Just as NPOV as including Jenin, Jenin. Keep it or lose both. Kyaa the Catlord 06:02, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

exclude pallywood

p - comments / questions

  • comment by Eleland 1 - Please learn to use Google. The search "brutal+Israeli+terrorism" returns 1.52 million GHits; "brutal Israeli terrorism" as a phrase returns 289. Similarily, the search "big jenin lie" as a phrase return 245 GHits, almost all of which trace back to a single opinion editorial in an extremely partisan magazine. It is difficult to see how "Pallywood", the supposed phenomenon of Palestinians staging events in front of world cameras, could apply to an event which became subject of great consternation specifically because no international press were there to record it. Eleland 01:29, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
    • reply - we've been though this on ], the way this battle has been tagged by people who allege this is a prime example of pallywood is quite clear. Jaakobou 02:08, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
  • comment by Eleland 2 - Please stop attempting to structure the conversation with these headers. As you must know, it is not on editors to provide reasons to exclude material; rather the burden of proof is on those who want to include it. Eleland 01:31, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
  • reply comment (to Jaakobou 02:01, 3 September 2007 above) - Slow down, and explain to me why an article on the siege of Jenin, an event of major importance in the second intifada, an event that drew and continues to draw massive international attention, should be 'see-also' linked to an obscure propaganda term from the right-wing pro-Israel blogosphere, taken in turn from the title of an obscure American propaganda film about alleged propaganda on the part of Palestinians. I fail to see the logic. This is a serious article, not a provincial parade for Wikipedians on hobby horses.--G-Dett 04:04, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
    • reply - see my reply from before. Jaakobou 06:11, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
      • continued - I have seen your reply from before. It does not address the general violation of WP:NPOV, or the specific violation of WP:UNDUE. Nor does it respond to the suggestion that we tackle the issue of propaganda on both sides in a balanced, neutral, and serious way using high-quality sources, instead of providing a promotional link to an obscure propaganda film.--G-Dett 14:57, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
        • reply - i think i've explained my perspective in regards to UNDUE, and considering the neologism is non NPOV by definition, then that is resolved also (from my perspective). the issue of propaganda from both sides is being dealt with as seriously as possible considering the voices involved on this article. to the new point, i think your perspective, on how obscure the term is, is incorrect. p.s. please keep long opinion based questions off the main part so that people can follow the debate easily. Jaakobou 16:17, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
          • continued - Huh? My "perspective" that the "term" Pallywood is obscure is based on the fact that the article Pallywood, whose editors are decidedly enthusiastic about the word, has only been able to find 16 citations where the word is even referenced, and these citations include the blog of the man who coined it, as well as a usenet thread (!) where someone says it off-handedly and then applauds his own cleverness. Some "neologism." My perspective that the film "Pallywood" is obscure is based on the fact that it is not registered in the exhaustive IMDB database, had no proper distribution deal, is not available through Netflix, is not available in any research library I can find, and appears to be referenced only be its right-wing blogger-fans and a very few (as in five or six) back-page feature articles which note it in passing. I am curious if you can give me the basis of your perspective that "Pallywood" is "NPOV by definition" (!) – an assertion which strikes me as outlandish at best. Do you also think "Jew York Times" is NPOV by definition? That's a rhetorical question, but I am seriously trying to follow what seems to me a most idiosyncratic line of reasoning.--G-Dett 16:43, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
            • reply - (1) i stated: the neologism is non NPOV by definition. (2) i don't think this is the proper subsection to discuss how reliable and considering this is an 18 minute "production", i really don't know why you mention IMDB. (3) if you really want to make a "jew york times" article (as might be construed from your commentary), you're invited to do so. Jaakobou 17:03, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
              • reply (1) Sorry, I missed that. I guess I don't see why you're advocating we foreground it then. (2) Reliability (WP:RS) is another thing, what I'm talking about is WP:UNDUE, and the film's manifest obscurity is certainly relevant in that regard. IMDB is, so far as I know, exhaustive, and it includes both "short" and "documentary" as categories. That Pallywood is missing from it forms part of a cumulative picture of its obscurity; as I noted, the film is not available through any research library I know of, nor does Netflix stock it. Significant documentary works, even short ones, are routinely purchased by research universities; not this one. There are also distribution companies that specialize in independent documentary shorts; to my knowledge Pallywood is not available through any of these. I don't know if it's reliable because I haven't seen it, and I don't know how I would see it if I wanted to. Would I write to CAMERA? Search limewire for an illegal download? When I do a search for "Pallywood" in the complete historical archives of the New York Times, the database's droll response is priceless, and neatly sums up the situation: "No documents found for: pallywood. Did you mean: plywood?" (3) I am confident that no literate person who knows a reductio ad absurdum when she sees it will confuse my posts as advocating the creation of "Jew York Times." You may be interested to know that I do endorse the existence of the Pallywood article. I am an inclusionist, and someone might stumble on the concept in his daily digest of right-wing blogs, and wish to know its history; whereas "Jew York Times" is a self-explanatory slur, and a nonce phrase with no traced or traceable history that I know of. "Pallywood" and "Jew York Times" are very close in their essential vulgarity, of course, but in my book they straddle the lower threshold of notability, with the former just clearing it and the latter just missing it. There are secondary sources for the former, only primary sources for the latter. It wouldn't take much, mind you, to push "Jew York Times" over the line where it could join its cousin; a couple of secondary sources mentioning the term would be all that's needed (quote farms assembled from primary sources are OR). But even if Jew York Times were to meet the threshold of notability, perhaps with a nasty little film, discussion of which percolated through the blogosphere, I still think it would be extremely inappropriate to link to it from articles on episodes in the I-P conflict, citing the flimsy grounds that said film mentioned said episode. Similarly, to link from an article on a prominent and historically significant event like the siege of Jenin, to an article on a ugly little obscurity like Pallywood, is a violation of WP:UNDUE, for reasons I hope and trust are growing obvious.--G-Dett 17:53, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
                • reply - you can watch it here... google is your friend. Jaakobou 04:06, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
                  • Thanks for the link. I watched it. It's garden variety conspiracy-theory mongering, with a dose of racism and sleazy innuendo thrown in.--G-Dett 18:19, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
                    • (1) i don't think it's (a) racist film or (b) conspiracy theory or (c) obscure either. (2) please stop reverting this film out, its done in poor form when you present it as part of a sequential edit while making statements on the films supposed unavailability (per I don't know if it's reliable because I haven't seen it, and I don't know how I would see it if I wanted to.). Jaakobou 13:47, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

offtopic

Please stop re-structuring the discussion, moving comments around, and adding headers to comments. I am becoming progressively more upset with this behavior. I do not believe you intend to manipulate opinion by this procedure, but it nonetheless could have the effect. There is no reason for it. Please stop. Eleland 02:18, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

i believe i explained the reason, and i find your commentary for this in an unrelated subsection unhelpful. Jaakobou 03:03, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Comment - considerable numbers of editors have been driven off this article in frustration by the complete failure to edit it to Misplaced Pages policy. The discussion on "what should be contained in the lead" come to the conclusion that the "context" contained therein did not belong there. So why have we not corrected this substantial problem? And why is it that people are deleting the "Totally disputed" tag from the article, when every portion of it is so POV (and much of it very badly written)? PalestineRemembered 11:10, 3 September 2007 (UTC)


Removal of {{TotallyDisputed}} - round II

previous related talk can be found here round I - sep. 11 static]
link to previous related talk:

the following is an attempt to resolve the long standing dispute of the inclusion/exclusion of the {{TotallyDisputed}} tag at the top of the article.

for now, there are three subsections -
(1) opinions about the tag - keep/exclude
(2) issues i'd like to see resolved
(3) questions and notes
-- Jaakobou 08:58, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

opinions about the tag - keep/exclude

please state your opinion in a brief and short manner, this is just a declaration of position - not an evidence section of full discussion - for questions and discussions go here:
  • exclude - a few (tiny) snippet problems can be discussed and fixed, i believe that the article is well factual and referenced, and i don't see how any of the issues justifies such an inclusive tag. Jaakobou 08:58, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
  • exclude - worthless tag. If you have problems with the article, use fact or dubious tags to directly point out which portions you are contesting. Blanketing the article with a scare tag doesn't help improve the article. Kyaa the Catlord 09:12, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

issues i'd like to see resolved

please state issues that you would like resolved, be brief, this is only for mentioning/declaration of perspective, not for resolving:
  • (2)
  • (3)

TotallyD - questions and notes

Please note that nobody has actually addressed this issue properly. The tag denotes that "The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed". It doesn't say "This article is neither neutral nor factually accurate". Those who are expressing their opinion of the article's neutrality are missing the point. The discussion should be about whether the dispute exists. Myself, and (I believe) G-Dett and PalestineRemembered also, say that the article is highly POV and contains factual inaccuracies and misrepresentations. Jaakobou, Tewfik, and Kyaa do not seem to agree. Prima facie that is an NPOV and accuracy dispute; nobody has explained why it isn't one. Rather than removing the notice of the dispute, why don't we try and remove the cause of the dispute. Eleland 13:53, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I'd like to see this article be presented in an NPOV manner as well. I'd be happy to see that actually. Kyaa the Catlord 13:55, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Then you'll want to see the death-toll reported properly, along with all the other problems detailed here. PalestineRemembered 20:02, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
PR, half your claims there violate NPOV. You really need a mentor to go over your ideas and help you learn to use the wikipedia. This isn't a taunt, just a suggestion. Kyaa the Catlord 00:38, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

UN and other death toll reports

in continuation with the complaint that the presentation of death toll presentation is "is systematically mis-stated" (per PR) dispute, i hope this subsection will resolve the issue.

please go over the notes and leave your commentary here. Jaakobou 13:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

current article texts

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.
the following is a generic assembly of the related texts from 13:03, 7 September 2007.

there are probably a couple left outs, but in general it is, i believe, a fair representative of the majority of related text. Jaakobou 13:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

intro

The Palestinian death toll was estimated at 52 (including 22 civilians), while 23 Israeli soldiers were killed.

Body count estimates

According to the United Nations (which was prevented from making a visit), "at least 52" Palestinian deaths were confirmed. Human Rights Watch "confirmed that at least fifty-two Palestinians were killed ... This figure may rise". No other Palestinian deaths from the battle have been confirmed since this time. The IDF estimate the number at 52. The designation of combatants differs (IDF counts 38 "armed men", HRW counts 30 "militants"). Palestinian Fatah investigators claimed the death toll is 56, announced on April 30 by Qadoura Moussa, the Fatah director for the Northern West Bank. 23 Israeli soldiers were also killed.

post fighting investigations

Human Rights Watch found no evidence for a massacre, but said "However, many of the civilian deaths documented by Human Rights Watch amounted to unlawful or willful killings by the IDF. Many others could have been avoided if the IDF had taken proper precautions to protect civilian life during its military operation, as required by international humanitarian law." The human rights organization also criticized Palestinian militants for having endangered the lives of Palestinian civilians in part by "intermingling" with them.

Derek Holley, a military advisor to Amnesty International, corroborated that there was no massacre. "Talking to people and talking to witnesses, even very credible witnesses, it just appears there was no wholesale killing." he added.

UN report

The UN report stated that fifty-two Palestinian deaths had been confirmed by the end of May 2002, which mirrored the IDF report, but fell short of the estimate by a senior Palestinian Authority official who had claimed that about five hundred were killed which was not corroborated by evidence. This report was criticized by the group Human Rights Watch as being "flawed" due to a lack of first-hand evidence. The report itself states that a fact-finding team led by Martti Ahtisaari was unable to visit the area as planned due to concerns of the Israeli government, which meant that the report had to rely on papers submitted by different nations and NGOs, and other documents.

... The UN report confirmed that "at least 52 Palestinians" deaths were reported by the Jenin hospital by the end of May 2002 and that Palestinian reports of 500 dead had not been substantiated.

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

death toll commentary

  • personally, i disagree that the death toll is systematically mis-stated. Jaakobou 13:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
  • agreed. Based on the sourced statements, the final death toll was somewhere (read: estimated) in the 50s (read: 52). I don't see where the contention of this comes from other than the conspiracy theory nonsense about refrigerated trucks hauling the bodies away in the dead of night. (Honestly, these were busy carrying Saddam's nukes to Syria, duh!) Kyaa the Catlord 14:03, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

commentary general

the following is an exchange started at Talk:Battle_of_Jenin#death_toll_commentary, and moved to a separate area due to lack of relevance. Jaakobou 12:55, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
The UN report says "at least 52" but probably not as much as 500. The provisional PA estimate was around 375 for the whole West Bank (over half of which likely come from Jenin). The "PA figure" of 56 is so badly referenced as to be worthless, as I've detailed.
If this article is intended to reflect what Reliable Sources said of the event, then the UN and PA estimates will be used and the Israeli estimate barely mentioned, since Israel failed to do any of the investigations it was required to do, and blocked the investigations of others.
And if you're not taking part in the mediation, then whatever you say will likely not be considered anyway. PalestineRemembered 19:54, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Hey, on the specific issue of refrigerator trucks, that of course tripped my "conspiracy theory" alert at the time, but in fact, it's true. The Israeli Army Radio station reported that they were bringing in fridge trucks in order to whisk away bodies of "terrorists" to military-controlled cemeteries in the Jordan Valley (which is, by the way, just about the most militarized and inaccessible area Israel controls). The plan was later abandoned under pressure, but the damage had been done. The trucks were ultimately used for IDF guys to cool down in, although local residents may have mistaken the sleeping soldiers for stacked Palestinian corpses. Eleland 20:01, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Here is the Daily Telegraph confirming the story, and Ze'ev Schiff, Israel's "most respected military analyst", explaining events in Ha'aretz (mirrored by Tel Aviv University). Eleland 20:34, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Thankyou very much, Eleland I've added the information here. PalestineRemembered 21:11, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Hint at the suspicion engendered? Rumor mongering is NOT encyclopedic. If this is worthy of inclusion, it will need to be written in a way that doesn't hint at anything but rather states what the source said. Kyaa the Catlord 21:21, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
If you're worried about rumor-mongering, you've got your work all laid out for you:

Popularly watched was the footage captured on video by an Israeli drone flying over Jenin on April 28. Palestinian pallbearers carried a green blanket-wrapped "corpse" who was accidentally dropped and then stood up and placed himself back in the blanket. He was taken to a staged funeral.

During the battle, Dr. David Zangen, chief medical officer of the Israeli paratroop unit that was fighting in Jenin, reported that the IDF had worked to keep the local Palestinian hospital open and that Israeli doctors had offered the Palestinians blood for their wounded, who then refused to be given "Jewish blood". Col. Arik Gordin of the IDF Office of Military Spokesmen has stated Israel subsequently flew in 2,000 units of blood from Jordan and arranged 40 more units of blood from the Muqased Hospital (East Jerusalem), which were sent to the Ramallah and Tulkarm hospitals, and also facilitated the delivery of 1,800 units of anti-coagulants that had come from Morocco.

--G-Dett 21:32, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I swear some of that comes from the UN report. Are you questioning the UN document as a source? Oh wait, this is sourced back to CNN, are you having problems with verifiable material from a commonly pro-palestinian source? Kyaa the Catlord 21:39, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I can't tell whether you're kidding; you do have an unusual sense of humor, and it's odd to say "I swear" when you could just give a link. At any rate, no, the rumors don't come from the UN report. They come from an Israeli state website, and an interview with an Israeli state official. The blurry footage of the "staged funeral" has been incorporated into the Youtube conspiracy video your partner keeps linking to, so you can see it for yourself. If you're like me you won't know what the hell you're looking at, but the voiceover from the great Richard Landes, medieval history professor and first-time Youtuber, will help you to see that this is the Palestinians once again faking their civilian casualties, faking Israeli collective punishment, faking the Israeli occupation itself.--G-Dett 21:52, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Actually, I went to the article, followed the provided source to CNN and verified that it was placed. Do you have a problem with the policies about RS on wikipedia? If so, why not make a thread about that on the Village Pump. I'm sure you can discuss changing the reliable source and verifiability guidelines there to your hearts content. As long as we accurately reflect what is presented from reliable sources, where is the problem? Or do you simply have a bone to grind with Paula Zahn and CNN? Kyaa the Catlord 21:57, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Clusterfuck of non sequiturs.--G-Dett 22:12, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Kyaa the Catlord - you're wasting everyone's time - the Israeli source speaks of the "the spark that set off the rumors about a massacre in Jenin's refugee camp". Those "rumours of massacre" are the "Major View", as even the "pro-Israel windsofchange article makes clear. PalestineRemembered 22:04, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
As I stated previously, your articles which are chastising the media for misrepresentation and bad journalism do not lend credibility to the previous reporting which was later proven to be false and overexagerated. The articles you used to try to say that a massacre is the "major view" only support that the false reporting was not properly countered when facts came to light that, as sources have shown repeatedly, no massacre occured. And for that matter, we should be presenting this battle in a neutral point of view, not from a "major view" or a "minor view" but from one which is supported by cold, verifiable fact. In the end, the claims of massacre were refuted regardless of whether or not the press ran with that story more or less than they ran with the sensational stories of hundreds dead. Kyaa the Catlord 22:58, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
If you have problems with editing the encyclopedia to WP:policy then you really need to be upfront about it. WP is "Verifiability not Truth" - and it is verifiable (even the "No Massacre" people tell us) that most sources treated this event as an atrocity/massacre. (And of course, you have no RS for "facts come to light" - when observers actually got into the camp they were even more horrified, rather than less). Again, this is what is going on at mediation - which you're refusing to participate in. PalestineRemembered 00:00, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Excuse me? This is wikipedia, the encyclopedia anyone can edit, not just the chosen few who have decided to take part in a witchhunty kangaroo court. Sorry, PR.... Kyaa the Catlord 21:19, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Discussing Mediation

Will you participate in mediation, or not?--G-Dett 21:32, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I think I made my views clear on the "mediation". Kyaa the Catlord 21:51, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
A well regarded Wikipedian has made it his business to mediate this article. If you reject procedures calculated to further the aims of the project then expect measures calculated to protect it. It's pretty pointless abusing other peoples TalkPages on the subject of not making WP a battleground, if your behaviour suggests that it's you who is the culprit. PalestineRemembered 21:56, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Another well regarded Wikipedian has made it his business not to take part in said "mediation" since the mediator is a sympathetic ear to you. I'll take part in one if you can find a neutral mediator, not someone who has been conspiring with you on your talk page. Kyaa the Catlord 22:00, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
The well-regarded Wikipedian Kyaa is referring to is him- or herself.--G-Dett 22:20, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Hi guys. Since it sounds you are alluding to me, I'd like to clarify that I have not offered or acted to mediate the article. Instead, I've made some suggestions about how you might narrow a request to submit for mediation. It is fair for Kyaa not to want somebody to mediate if there's a sense of sympathy biased to one side. That's partly why my original remarks were addressed more pointedly to the Users I knew. Nevertheless, I would say on behalf that I would like to think of myself as capable of sympathy to multiple viewpoints and editors. (It goes without saying that I'm hardly aligned with PR, who I often argue against and prod, etc., though in the friendliest and most collegial way I can muster.) Thanks for giving this some thought. HG | Talk 01:45, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Hi HG. It is with reluctance I treat you as a mediator since our previous dealings have been dominated by disagreement. It's a bit unlikely we'd start agreeing now over this article!
However, I've complied with your suggestions (and requests) as if you were the mediator and I will not be abusing you over your arguments, views, comments or anything personal I might have picked about you.
You may have forgotten this, but you were actually called to this article in the apparent hope and expectation you'd be partisan against me (based on the argument we were having on your TalkPage). It is bizarre indeed that I'm the one prepared to work (and actually working) with you, while the parties that wanted your assistance are now accusing you of being "far to buddy-buddy"(sic) with me and your "mediation" page a "witchhunty kangaroo court".
It's taken 11 months, but I've suddenly started to wonder why people like you treating me in a collegiate fashion seems to enrage so many other editors. What can it be about Yours Sincerely PalestineRemembered 07:03, 10 September 2007 (UTC) that brings down the red mist?
The Cabal is out to get you, PR. (Remember kids, there is no cabal.) Kyaa the Catlord 09:11, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

(outdent for space) Again, to clarify my initial comments here on Talk, I suggested how you all might clarify your (i.e., G-Dett's) request for mediation and also how to be more courteous on Talk so as not to have your dispute appear daunting (disheartening) to whomever might take the case. I wrote in a mediator/facilitator style but I did not and have not offered to "mediate" here. Incidentally, Steve did ask me to look here initially and he hasn't accused me of anything. Anyway, I'm not esp perturbed about concerns expressed about me here. At most, they may reflect poorly on the level of trust here and may be daunting to a mediator-to-be-named-later (as we say in USA sports chat). Anyway, here are some signs of progress:

  • Constructive effort by PR to clarify issues of concern, for potential mediation
  • Constructive effort by Jaakobou to elicit concerns (about the tag, round II) and also link to PR's effort, above
  • Eleland also responded there. Helpful to identify involved parties. Asks folks to focus on the cause of the dispute among the parties. (N.B. I do think Jaakobou is trying to help toward that end.)
  • "Red ink" spilled to strikeout some of the less courteous barbs on this Talk page (e.g., G-Dett, Kyaa, PR). There's been some improvement but continuing negative/personal comments do tend to annoy people (e.g., Tewfik below). It also distracts me and presumably disrupts constructive collaboration.
  • A narrow dispute (over Pallywood video) resolved, maybe, at least to satisfaction of G-Dett and Kyaa
  • Further recent efforts to clarify disagreements, e.g. Eleland on the article lead and Jaakobou then others on the "Jenin massacre" language (below)
  • There also are useful efforts (eg refactoring, linking) to keep the conversation(s) coherent & on topic

Overall, I can't tell whether the Talk here will actually resolve your disputes. Still, the discussion has cooled off somewhat and I gather that enough folks (e.g., Jaakobou, Kyaa) would like to proceed apace without outside mediation at this juncture. Is that right? Take care. HG | Talk 12:28, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

General comments, continued

Ze'ev Schiff said "the army sent three large refrigerator trucks into the city. Reservists decided to sleep in them for their air conditioning. Some Palestinians saw dozens of covered bodies lying in the trucks and rumors spread the Jews had filled trucks full of Palestinian bodies." The Telegraph said that "allegations last week that the Israeli army had staged an indiscriminate massacre of the Jenin camp's inhabitants were reverberating around the world ... the Israeli authorities unwisely contributed to the confusion by announcing that terrorists killed in the camp were to be spirited away in refrigerated trucks". We should neither hint nor monger, but simply state something like "...this decision contributed to the confusion, as Palestinians saw Israeli soldiers asleep in the trucks and spread rumours that they were full of Palestinian corpses".
Furthermore, G-Dett's point to the "staged funeral" information and the "Jewish blood" story is spot on as usual. I'm not really sure what a "staged funeral" is, since all funerals are staged events. If the implication is that it was a funeral for someone who wasn't dead, then we need more information than just that a guy was standing in for the corpse. Aren't Israeli soldiers ever given funerals when their bodies can't be recovered? And the "Jewish blood" information is presents as objective fact the unverified claims of a combatant who has been "was close enough to hear the screams of the wounded" and "wondered if a few targeted F-16 strikes earlier in the day ... might not have saved some of the friends with whom he had served for years." Furthermore it's sourced to a free weekly that at the least, comes very close to failing WP:RS. Eleland 21:41, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Read the source, its in the article. (Its either 61 or 62, I believe). Kyaa the Catlord 21:52, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
More bluff and bluster, O Catlord. The article is titled "IDF: Tape shows Palestinians faked funeral", and notes that "the Israel Defense Forces has released a videotape showing what it calls 'a phony funeral'". Every statement about the funeral being phoney or staged is attributed to the IDF. CNN could not verify that it even showed a funeral, or that it took place in Jenin! Eleland 22:03, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Don't bother with the IDF statement. Just watch the great, seminal documentary film Pallywood. There's some colorfully blurry satellite footage of a crowd bearing a coffin aloft; it falls a couple of times and the corpse stands around and gets back in. That's it, no context, no nothing. No evidence that this happened in or near Jenin, or that the event was filmed on the ground, much less distributed to news agencies, nor even any evidence that this was intended to deceive anyone as opposed to being some sort of pageant. Next time you're flying a helicopter over rural Italy on a saint's day, film one of those "fake funeral" thingies and send it to the Boston Youtuber to see what he makes of it.--G-Dett 22:07, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Whoah. Off-topic much? Kyaa the Catlord 22:09, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Sorry, I forgot all the hand-holding that's sometimes needed. The "faked funeral" rumor has been circulated by two sources – a medieval history professor/amateur youtuber and an Israeli state official – and verified by nobody. The RS you gave held the story at arm's length. You've made this big pronouncement about how rumors aren't encyclopedic. I am providing examples of the silliest sorts of rumors and rumor-mongering that you actively endorse. And you've helpfully rounded out the illustration by reiterating your endorsement. Following?--G-Dett 22:28, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Translation: "I see its on a reliable, verifiable source. I still don't like it and since CNN did not say anything about whether or not they verified the authentity of the tape, it must not be real since it does not support my POV." Kyaa the Catlord 22:08, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Kyaa, you chose the subject of this digression. Now just answer – no more non sequiturs – are you or are you not in favor of including rumors in this article?--G-Dett 22:11, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Dear G-Dett, reports from government officials provided by sources which meet the WP POLICY for reliable sourcing and verifiability are more than rumor. I ask again, do you have a problem with the policies by which we create articles on wikipedia? If so, maybe you should find another encyclopedia to edit. Kyaa the Catlord 22:15, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Unsubstantiated rumors advanced by government officials aren't rumors? Does this apply to Palestinian officials or only Israeli? Oh, never mind, I know the answer.--G-Dett 22:20, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
A government official speaking on behalf of the government he works for on an interview show is a statement, not a rumor. Seriously, I'm tired of arguing this. Regardless of your, my or Superman's opinion, the policies of Misplaced Pages trump POV and require us to present the article in a NPOV manner. If you want to fill it with POV, I don't think Misplaced Pages is the right place for you. Kyaa the Catlord 22:27, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I'd appreciate not having my words "translated" in the manner above. CNN did not report that the tape was authentic, that it showed a funeral procession, that it took place in Jenin, or indeed that it even showed Palestinians. They attributed Israeli claims to that effect, which is a very different thing. It's important to read sources closely and examine what they actually said. Failure to do this has been a major cause of the numerous problems with this article. Eleland 22:31, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm not even going to try to explain to you how to read news articles or wikipedia policies. I've cleaned up the statement on the main page providing the words and attribution of the material in question from the IDF press agent who discussed the pictures on CNN and not challenged by the host. Kyaa the Catlord 22:39, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Edit conflicts galore here - just wanted to note - "IDF officials stated X" is not a rumour; however "X" may or may not be a rumour, simply being repeated by Israeli officials doesn't elevate a tendentious claim. Eleland 22:31, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
The video or pictures or whatever, on an Israeli government web site, commented about on CNN by an IDF spokesman is not a rumor based on your own statement. Can we stop mischaracterizing the faked funeral as a rumor now? Kyaa the Catlord 22:53, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
No, I don't believe we can, Kyaa. That Eleland has tutored you to the point where you now see fit to present the "faked funeral" rumor as a claim instead of a fact is a good start. But what are you saying here? That if an official makes an unsubstantiated claim, and an RS reports that the official made the claim, then it rises out of rumor into the encyclopedic? Again, does this apply to Palestinian officials?--G-Dett 23:27, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
It isn't exactly a rumor. It is a statement and evidence presented by a government body. If you chose to believe it or not believe it is up to you. Our job, as wikipedians, is to present a NPOV article and allow the reader to make his own choices. If you present the idea that the refrigerated trucks were intended to carry away the bodies of terrorists as has been stated by RS/V sources and do not present it as fact, but as a claim with attribution, I believe it is worthy of inclusion. Maybe. It still seems pretty damn conspiracy theory-y to me. I'm terribly amused by the statement that the trucks were used as AC units by the soldiers tho. (And, if you don't have a sense of humor and don't get my original statement was a joke, I wonder about ya'll. Saddam's nukes? Hello. Noone claimed Saddam had nukes, well, maybe David Icke.) Kyaa the Catlord 23:35, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
You really need to answer the question (well, actually, you really need to participate in the mediation). But in the meantime, you could answer the question - if an official makes an unsubstantiated claim, and an RS reports that the official made the claim, does it rise from rumour to being encyclopedic? Does this apply to Palestinian officials? PalestineRemembered 23:52, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Palestinian government officials are included in the death toll with the numbers they claimed. It was a palestinian official who put the "final" death toll tally by them at 56 after all. I'm gonna read your mind. I'll let you know if I get it right after you reply to this... (Oh, and by the way, an official statement isn't ever an unsubtatiated claim. It may be false, but it carries the weight of the government the official is speaking for to "back it up".) Kyaa the Catlord 00:14, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Kyaa, please stop this nonsense – it's insulting. Of course you'll permit official Palestinian statements that were later discredited; such statements are central to the propaganda narrative that you're using this article to disseminate – that the central significance of the siege of Jenin is an alleged Palestinian propensity for exaggeration, and the international media's alleged propensity for swallowing it wholesale. The question I'm asking, and PR is asking, is if your indulgence for official "statements" of unverified claims – an indulgence which sometimes includes your puffing them into "facts" – is one you'd extend to Palestinian officials. The answer, obviously, is no. Your approach to the sources, as always, is a la carte. Is this what you guessed I'd say when you "read my mind"? Very well, then you knew the fallacy of what you were saying, and were deliberately abusing our patience, intelligence, and good faith.--G-Dett 00:51, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Actually, I thought he was going to ask about if I thought that the unfounded claims of massacre made before the smoke cleared and people were able to go in and do their investigations would prove that a massacre occured, despite this massacre only existing in later proven wrong press articles. And I'm striking stuff. Too busy to reply to challenges right now. Kyaa the Catlord 00:55, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

lead again

Hi Tewfik and Jaakobou. Here are the two disputed versions of the lead:

  1. Palestinian and international sources described the Israeli actions as indiscriminate and raised allegations of massacre and war crimes. Major human rights organizations subsequently conducted extensive investigations and found no evidence of massacres, but strong prima facie evidence of IDF war crimes.
  2. Palestinian and some international sources described the Israeli actions as indiscriminate and raised allegations of massacre, initially reported in the international media and subsequently disproven by outside observers, although major human rights organizations maintained that there was strong prima facie evidence of IDF war crimes.

Tewfik, you continue to insert "some" before "international sources," arguing that the EU report is the only international source that describes Israeli actions as indiscriminate. This is false, as we've gone through together pretty exhaustively here. Both the Amnesty investigation/report and the HRW investigation/report (as well as the latter's response to the U.N. report) stressed indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by the IDF. I'm not sure why you're still edit-warring over this.

Secondly, your version ends on a wordier, more syntactically tangled note, and it falls back into the trap of beefing up one aspect of the findings of human-rights organizations while minimizing the other. My version follows their wording: they found no evidence of massacre, but prima facie evidence of war crimes. Your version keeps elevating the former to a "disproof." I trust it's clear why that's a violation of WP:NPOV? The choices are (i) presenting the massacre as "disproven" and the war crimes as "confirmed"; or (ii) using the language sources use, and say they found no evidence of massacre, but prima facie evidence of war crimes. I much prefer the latter, but I'll leave it you. Understand, however, that the days of picking and choosing and selectively enhancing are over.--G-Dett 13:31, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

If so, knock it off. Not a battlefield, friend. Kyaa the Catlord 13:38, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Would you consider rethinking your response here?--G-Dett 13:43, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I take it you aren't a fan of Beavis? It certainly sounded like you threatened to do "something" if we do not accept your OWNership of the article. If that wasn't your intention, I'll apologize for taking your words "the days of picking and choosing and selectively enhancing are over" as a threat to disrupt the article. Kyaa the Catlord 13:51, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I don't know Beavis and Butthead, and am finding many of your responses incomprehensible.--G-Dett 14:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
The way you ended your statement made it sound like you were hinting that you were fed up and about to go on a spree of edits that would piss off your perceived "enemies". Kyaa the Catlord 14:15, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
As I've gone through with my red pen and all, could I ask you to stop trolling and discuss the issues, Kyaa?--G-Dett 14:20, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I disagree with G-Dett's choices. "Massacre" refers to a specific alleged event. "War crimes" refers to a whole set of allegations about various events and different times. If you need this, can you please change to "HRW found evidence of war crimes in Israel's actions during (for example) its infantry operations in the refugee area." That makes the text more specific, and allows you to present the material you wish. --Steve, Sm8900 13:50, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
These aren't compelling or accurate distinctions, Steve. Both terms – "war crimes" and "massacre" – are used with equal specificity in the findings of human-rights organizations. The "massacre" allegations, moreover, did not refer to a "specific alleged event," but rather to the (rumored) large scale of indiscriminate killing over the period of the siege.--G-Dett 14:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

comment - we're going over the war crime allegations here, you might want to participate so we can get some actual proof displayed regarding this issue of who said what. Jaakobou 12:57, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Pallywood...Jenin Jenin?

Kyaa, I'm trying to understand this edit. I get it that you're mimicking me, but I don't understand the WP:POINT you're making. "Jenin, Jenin" is not a left-wing blog term, and Jenin, Jenin is not a video, nor is it obscure. It was film produced and directed by a major Arab-Israeli actor and filmmaker, had a major distribution deal, screened theatrically, featured in a number of prominent international film festivals and won major prizes in two, including "best film," became the focus of a censorship controversy when the normally dormant Israeli Censorship Board banned it (a decision subsequently reversed by the Israeli high court), and generally attracted a large amount of international attention and became a prominent prop in ongoing disputes about what happened in Jenin. Though originally projected as a film, Jenin, Jenin is now available on VHS and DVD through Netflix, Amazon.com, and Blockbuster, and is housed in most major university research libraries.

Pallywood was an 18-minute video edited together out of TV footage by a medieval historian in Boston, who then posted it streaming on his blog. You can also watch it on youtube. It was never screened, distributed, or reviewed. It is flogged by right-wing pro-Israel bloggers (who found in it the conspiracy theory they needed) and by Wikipedians (who link to it wherever they can and call it a "film" even though it isn't because that makes it sound more important). "Pallywood" – both the youtube video and the blog-slang – went, however, all but completely unnoticed by the mainstream media.--G-Dett 16:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Response unnecessary. Kyaa the Catlord 16:29, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Oh, I see, you self-reverted. Thanks,--G-Dett 17:21, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

When did this stop being called the Jenin Massacre?

??? -- 146.115.58.152 22:19, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

When the UN, HRW and AI presented their findings that there was "no evidence of a massacre". Kyaa the Catlord 22:27, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Er, I'm just googling here, and haven't looked at the sources, but this seems to say none of those groups ever said that? -- 146.115.58.152 23:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes. Read the article. Its in there. Follow the links to the citations from the UN, HRW and AI. All three released statements and reports that state no massacre occured. Kyaa the Catlord 23:06, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm looking at the UN report and it explicitly calls it a massacre repeatedly. There's a section entitled "Direct eyewitness accounts by survivors of the massacre at the Jenin refugee camp" with a sentence beginning "The present report contains a number of eyewitness accounts by casualties who survived the massacre...." Another sentence says "Al-Amri was one of the first journalists to enter the Jenin camp during the massacre." Where exactly does the UN report say what you say it says? -- 146.115.58.152 23:11, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Um, that would be Anexe III which was written by the Jordanian government, not the UN. The UN does not use the term massacre in their statements at all. It appears once in the Palestinian statement and several times in the Jordanian statement, usually in quotations by "eyewitnesses". Kyaa the Catlord 23:25, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Oh, OK. So Jordan still calls it a massacre, and the UN has no opinion. So the word "previously" in the lead still seems a stretch. The HRW report seems to only say that multiple massacres did not occur. Or am I misreading it too? -- 146.115.58.152 23:34, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Hi anon, as Kyaa indicates above, the HRW and AI found "no evidence of a massacre" (you're right that the UN had no opinion). Kyaa and Jaakobou – for whom these organizations' findings are either absolutely definitive or laughably "partisan," depending on whether Kyaa or Jaakobou agree with the finding in question – are thrilled with this particular finding. Admittedly, they feel it ought to have been more strongly worded, so they've doctored it and puffed it up from "no evidence of" to "disproven," while continuing to try to hide, bury, or contest the findings they disagree with. Such as evidence of war crimes, and "indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks" on the camp. Get yourself a user name – I suggest "Grey Ghost," "Richard Landes," or "Skin-tight Alligator Luggage" – and join the fun.--G-Dett 23:41, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
I appreciate the rough overview of where everyone stands, G-Dett; I know you getting batted around like a mouse between cats for these kinds of summaries. Not to quibble, but the HRW report says no evidence of "massacres" (my bold italics). In any case, insisting no one anywhere still considers this a massacre is biased in the lead. I'd perhaps consider "colloquially known as" as I'm not sure exactly how many innocent civilians you have to kill to qualify as a massacre these days in the sausage factory of wikipedia. -- 146.115.58.152 23:57, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Hell, Misplaced Pages doesn't know what qualifies as a massacre in the sausage factory. :P But in this case we have verifiable proof that even the groups that tend to cry "massacre" at the drop of a hat say "no massacre" despite the lack of coverage of such by most of the media. Kyaa the Catlord 00:10, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
We know exactly what constitutes a massacre in everyday parlance, it's almost any number of killings carried out by soldiers of unarmed civilians. Hence Boston Massacre (5 dead) and Kent State Massacre (4 dead).
However, there is another meaning, and various sources (of which Israel was one) led us to think that Nazi-style mass shootings has also been carried out. We have firm published evidence and Israeli confirmation for only one such incident (3 men, 1 of whom survived, giving us the first names of two of the soldiers), and this evidence was not released until 4 November 2002 (perhaps because that's when it became clear that Israel had no intention of even investigating this case as they're required to do?).
Hence, as at todays date, the "No Massacre" thesis is disproved, in both of the meanings of the word.
Howevever, none of this discussion should be going on in Talk, it should be on the mediation page.
That's assuming you're agreeable to withdraw allegations against the good faith of the mediator - and you're prepared to move to Talk the defacement of the mediation page which has taken place. Without both those actions, it is questionable whether you should be editing this article. Even once you've taken those necessary actions, it would be a lot more collegiate if you restricted yourself to taking part in the mediation, and presented your evidence properly, in some fashion such as I've done. PalestineRemembered 09:14, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Did you simply not read HG's statements on the "mediation" page? He said no discussion. THIS is the proper place for discussion of this article, period. Read WP:TALK. Kyaa the Catlord 09:27, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
And the character assassination attempts continue. Kyaa the Catlord 00:08, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Oh, rubbish.--G-Dett 00:38, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Random statement struck out. Kyaa the Catlord 00:57, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Anon, you have a very good point. One gets so exhausted fighting to have a lead that doesn't grossly misrepresent the sources, you slide into a position of accepting this sort of low-level POV-massage.--G-Dett 00:38, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Comment - this issue has been fairly well explained and was seemed to be resolved in previous talk and also it's well referenced on the article (so i've already archived it). please go over the material and stop placing tags on the intro before you do. go over these discussions - (1), (2) - and let me know if you're interested in reopening the dispute. Jaakobou 13:15, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't consider this issue resolved at all, thanks. We'll need to come to a compromise here. -- 146.115.58.152 14:46, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
How about something in the lead along the lines "The battle was initially referred to as the Jenin massacre when initial reports put civilian deaths about 500, but the label fell out of favor with international organizations after the civilian death toll was reduced to 23." That would be more honest and a better explanation than just saying "previously" which is confusing and inaccurate. -- 146.115.58.152 14:57, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
When this article is (eventually) written in a good NPOV fashion, we can revisit what it's called. (I'm personally convinced we'll find it's universally known as the "Jenin Massacre" - even the angry pro-Israel sources tell us that the "No Massacre Thesis" was ignored by the British/Western media). However, that's rather more of a snake-pit than the "Verifiable information in Reliable Sources" facts of the case (or the lead, on which we may be about to agree, see below). Get the lead and "the facts" into place, and much of the rest of it will shake out properly.
Note that editors have (repeatedly) taken an ax to portions of this TalkPage and archived them away with no discussion/mandate to do this whatsoever. It's one of the relatively minor tricks that have been played here. PalestineRemembered 18:48, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Striking out

Look, all this striking out of comments is getting exhausting. I can barely keep up with the whack-a-mole, and then to have to un-whack every mole that then goes to ground....

Let's concentrate on the mainspace shall we? We are all pissed off. Tone is important, but it ain't everything.--G-Dett 01:14, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm playing with fire! Fire! Good! :P Kyaa the Catlord 01:34, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
You go girl, I guess.--G-Dett 02:12, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

On massacres

ANNIE WHITE: But first, the United Nations has released its long awaited report on the events in the West Bank city of Jenin in April, when Israeli troops seeking Palestinian militants, attacked the refugee camp there with tanks, helicopter launched-missiles and hundreds of troops.

Israel refused to allow the UN to investigate the alleged massacre of civilians so the report was compiled from accounts supplied by the Israeli Army, the Palestinians and various agencies.

The report that has emerged is at best a compromise, criticising both sides for using innocent civilians as human shields.

Unlike the UN investigators, our Foreign Affairs Editor, Peter Cave, did get into Jenin while it was still besieged by the Israeli Army and he's been looking at the UN report for Correspondence Report.

PETER CAVE: Was there a massacre in Jenin? Well, yes there was.

The Macquarie Dictionary and the OED define a massacre as the unnecessary indiscriminate killing or slaughter of human beings.

The UN's report, flawed though it is by being forced to rely on second-hand and often deeply partisan accounts, claims that 75 human beings died, 23 Israeli soldiers and 52 Palestinians, half of them civilians.

Were the deaths necessary or discriminate? Not by any measure.

Israel, however, has put its own spin on the UN report.

DANIEL TAUB: This report, and a whole host of meetings in the United Nations, were a response to allegations of absolutely shocking massacre that was supposed to have taken place in Jenin.

The report apparently makes it clear that there was no such thing,http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/563.cfm and that allegations, particularly by the Palestinian leadership, of hundreds of innocent civilians who had been killed, were nothing more than a propaganda.

PETER CAVE: Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Daniel Taub.

Palestinian spokesman, Saeb Erekat, had his own spin when interviewed by the BBC just after the report was released.

SAEB EREKAT: Five-hundred and more Palestinians will be killed, will be a massacre. Five Israelis to ten... what is the definition of a massacre? Do you mean to tell me now that five-hundred and more Palestinians will be killed will be a massacre? Five Israelis to ten will be described by BBC as a massacre. I've heard, this is not the point here, the point is that if we set wrong numbers, we stand to be corrected.

Thankyou Tiamut. I'm convinced that the whole "Massacre/No Massacre" thing is a propaganda red-herring raised to confuse matters. However, as long as there are people who insist this debate has to dominate this article, your information will help us keep the factual side of things straight. PalestineRemembered 18:32, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Did you notice that article highlighted the HRW investigation's findings that there was no massacre, then used massacre in quotes for the rest of the article? Did you notice that that article is another in a string of articles showing that it is only in the biased, propagandist media that it is still referred to as a massacre? I await your answers. Kyaa the Catlord 19:20, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Let's remind ourselves what HRW say: "Human Rights Watch found no evidence to sustain claims of massacres or large-scale extrajudicial executions by the IDF in Jenin refugee camp. However, many of the civilian deaths documented by Human Rights Watch amounted to unlawful or willful killings by the IDF. ..... Among the civilian deaths were those of Kamal Zgheir .... even though he had a white flag attached to his wheelchair .... Some of the cases documented by Human Rights Watch amounted to summary executions, a clear war crime ... Al-Sabbagh was shot to death while directly under the control of the IDF: he was obeying orders to strip off his clothes".
Under these circumstances, the "No massacre" thesis should certainly not dominate the article as it does now. Misplaced Pages is based on reporting honestly what the secondary sources say, and your synopsis of the HRW words clearly don't give an NPOV impression. PalestineRemembered 19:26, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
On the contrary, the HRW quotation you give above explicitly supports the claim that what happened in Jenin wasn't a massacre. --GHcool 00:55, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
As I keep saying, the "Massacre or no Massacre" discussion is a complete red-herring. It's certainly not the reason for this incident being notable.
However, the sources saying "No Massacre" are only refering to one meaning of the word (Nazi-style mass shooting). Yet it's clear there are even good indications that there was a massacre in this limited sense of the word too. Evidence for this particular allegation was not published until November 2002 - perhaps because by then it was clear that Israel had no intention of investigating the case, with first names, that had been presented to them.
Over at your TalkPage you said "the IDF kills a handful of Palestinians (some were civilians), and then the world buying the Palestinian propoganda version of the story". I'd be very interested to know why this article is not written to this "Majority View" (that we agree the world accepts). WP:Policy would apparently say our article should be written to that "Majority View" with NPOV balance to the "Minority View" - why is that not happening? PalestineRemembered 10:27, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
We have Godwins! We have Godwins! :P Kyaa the Catlord 11:18, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
For my response, see my talk page. --GHcool 00:56, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Prompted by in lead

It is completely one-sided to count up all the Palestinian attacks in the lead and ignore the Israeli attacks, which prompted the Palestinian attacks, etc. The source, the Prime Minister of Israel at the time, specifically says the Jenin attack was in response to the attacks over the previous few days which caused 27 or more causalities. -- 146.115.58.152 12:27, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

comment - this issue has been discussed, please (1) signup with your regular username, or at least sign up with a new one. (2) go over the talk and look for previous discussions. (3) i disagree with your perception on who prompted what and this article could get real troublesome if we go with that type of information all the way back to the jews of Yathrib. the general consensus was that the events which led to israel moving into PA controlled jenin camp are the attacks, we can't go back beyond that, please look for this in the archives and let us know if you wish to reopen the issue. Jaakobou 13:22, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

146 does not need a username to contribute, and since previous discussions were circular, frustrating, and did not resolve anything, it is most welcome for a new user to re-open the discussion with a fresh perspective.
I think we have persistent problems in this article of citation and attribution. For instance, Jaakobou reverted back to a statement which says that "Prompted by over a dozen suicide bombings in the previous month which left over 100 civilians dead, the IDF launched a large-scale offensive in the West Bank..." and is sourced to an IMFA record of a press conference .
First problem: "prompted". "X prompted Y" is an objective statement of fact, and it strongly connotes that Y is the natural and logical response to X. It is true that Sharon and other senior Israelis said that terror attacks prompted Defensive Shield, and that's very much worth including. But for us to say "X prompted Y" goes beyond this; it makes a direct conclusion on which not all sources agree.
Second problem: "over a dozen...100 dead". The simple fact is, nobody at the cited press conference said this. Sharon and Ben-Eliezer both referred to three attacks which killed 21 people. The terms "dozen", "twelve", "fourteen", "fifteen", "sixteen" and so on do not occur ("thirteen" occurs in an unrelated context) nor do "100" or "hundred". Sharon makes a general reference to "terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism" which is about as close as he gets to what we're actually writing here. It may well be that in some other source, senior Israelis did say that they were prompted by over a dozen attacks with 100+ dead; if this is the case, we should add those sources and present them accurately. It is unacceptable to use sources that seem to support a claim unless you read them closely and check what they say. This technique is used heavily in Battle of Jenin to its severe detriment.
Third problem: Removal of maintenance tags without consensus. This should not be happening. Perhaps was more appropriate than in this case, but we can't allow a statement to stand unchallenged when it is not in the given source and is phrased in a leading POV fashion. Eleland 14:39, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
"this article could get real troublesome if we go with that type of information all the way back to the jews of Yathrib." Yes, exactly. The lead is making it sound as if Israel sat around and did nothing for months, then suddenly attacked Jenin, which isn't what the historical record according to the sources says. At the same time you keep removing from the background the fact, from the UN report on the battle, that there were ongoing tit for tat attacks on both sides. I guess you want to make the Palestinian side look ruthless at the expense of making Israel look weak, and at the expense of the sources. But your position is untenable. This is, as the name suggests, just one battle in a larger war. -- 146.115.58.152 15:08, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Anon and Eleland both make good points. I wonder why we don't simplify and neutralize the lead paragraph so that it gives context without tendentious causality. Something like:

The Battle of Jenin took place between the 3rd and 11th of April 2002 in Jenin's Palestinian refugee camp. It constituted the apex and most controversial episode of Operation Defensive Shield, Israel's large-scale military response to a string of Palestinian suicide bombings. As the camp was completely sealed for the duration of the siege, early accounts of what took place depended heavily on hearsay, and were significantly revised by outside investigations in the aftermath. Details of the siege are still hotly disputed, and continue to serve as a lightning rod for criticism of Israel's alleged human-rights violations on the one hand, and alleged Palestinian media manipulation on the other.

And then the last paragraph of the lead can cite the findings of human-rights organizations, and mention that the siege/battle is sometimes still referred to as the "Jenin massacre," though the formulation is highly controversial.
I wonder what y'all think.--G-Dett 15:41, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Much improved in content, although I would obviate "constituted the apex" and "serve as a lightning rod". How about, "It was the most visible and controversial episode of", and "details of the siege are still hotly disputed, with allegations of Israeli war crimes on one hand, and of Palestinian propaganda on the other." I think that "war crimes" and "propaganda" describe the allegations more succinctly and accurately. Eleland 15:50, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes, good improvements/tightening.--G-Dett 15:55, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
I don't want to put a stick into anyone's spokes, but I think incremental improvements of this article is a mistake while it is structured to be "For/Against" the "No Massacre Thesis". That structure is a road-block that will stop us ever getting a sensible article. Re-structure first, then do the lead, then tighten up on the rest of it. However, I'm very happy with the work done by G-Dett and Eleland and commend their new lead (which, incidentally, would be something like what we decided we needed some weeks ago, in one of the sections started by Jaakobou).
PS - I've re-indented this section into the "threaded" form I believe it should have. This is not an exercise in disruption (I've even left the comment contribution in it's original confused state), it's because I'm pretty sure it makes it much more sensible and easier to read. PalestineRemembered 18:28, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

comment1 - if certain editors can't cool off and avoid discussions that don't really relate to them, then i'm afraid we won't get many things achieved on this article.

comment2 - User:146.115.58.152, please follow my requests and when finished start a proper subsection on the topic and we will adress it properly and probably make some new concensus on how to write down the intro and the background section, i think the background is indeed pro-israel in an innaccurate way, but i don't see how misplacing information and turning the talk into a battleground (not reffering to anyone in particular) will help us resolve anything. Jaakobou 22:12, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

This section seems perfectly proper to me. This isn't a bureaucracy. The sentence in question, in any case now has been rewritten, the only thing left to do is replace the WP:Weasel word "numerous" with the more accurate count "three." -- 146.115.58.152 22:25, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
the problem is not the weasel term, but editors "batteling", who change the article repeatedly in a manner that allows degregation of the article rather than an improvement.
here's an old version of the lead you should get acquained with, it will be making a swift comeback soon so we can avoid the "numereous" weasel term. Jaakobou 23:51, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
User:146.115.58.152, in case you didn't notice, in this edit, you've removed the information that i retrieved from the past (about 6 suicide attacks within' two weeks). pardon the heated note, but regarding my previous note (1) you've yet to login with a proper user name, and (2) i get the feeling that you've not yet went over the material properly considering how you treat the UN reference (that, best i'm aware, israel did not even participate in it's process) while omitting other sources and the information within'. and lastly (3) it seems that you've mixed times and contexts with the introduction and while you added that the israeli 1st incursion caused many life loss, you've not went before it to register why the first incursion occurred... and also, not registered why the palestinians made these terror attacks that ignited the 1st incursion... etc. see note (3) from above and related talk. Jaakobou 06:53, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

previously referred to as the Jenin Massacre - round III

based on the notation of User:146.115.58.152, the following talk is resumed in continuation from previously referred to as the Jenin Massacre - round II.
an earlier discussion was is registered here

since we seem to have quite a few versions on how to phrase the "jenin massacre" name i request people, rather than revert and change to their preferred version, list down the version they prefer 'and the reasoning. if you wish to ask questions or make commentary please do it on the comments and questions section. Jaakobou 15:18, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

preferred version

  • 'previously referred to as the Jenin Massacre - i was a tad conflicted about "previously dubbed as" because "jenin massacre" was never an official name albeit the way the fighting was presented. i've decided to support the mellower and more encyclopedic version, to what i consider the previously more common way the "consensus" described the israeli battle inside the camp. Jaakobou 15:18, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

comments and questions

  • comment - Can't we slow down on the conflict? The previous one is still smoldering. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1937048.stm The headline calls it a massacre. That's my quick and unfinished research for the moment. Jerseycam 01:35, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
  • comment - The word "massacre" is part of some man's quote. You need reliable sources saying that the battle was indeed previously called "Jenin Massacre". Beit Or 19:28, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
    • reply comment - we have a number of sources in the article body, both mainstream and official sources, who clearly used the massacre terminology during the battle. p.s. one of them is right above your comment. Jaakobou 22:07, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
  • elements of a massacre did occur. A UN report concluded that mass killings in the range of 500 did not occur but official Israeli source acknowledge that 52 were killed. A significant part of the public will probably remember it as a massacre. News sources quote it as a massacre. Blame them, not WP. Jerseycam 02:23, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
    • perhaps we should say "overstated in the media as a massacre" then, since international rights groups (the UN, HRW, AI) either do not term the battle as a massacre or blatantly state that a massacre did not occur. Yes, it was widely reported by the media as a massacre during the conflict and even until the smoke cleared and investigations actually had the ability to go in and disprove the claims of massacre. Kyaa the Catlord 01:06, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
  • comment - extra talk can also be found here: sep. 9 static

Take "Jenin Massacre" out of the lead - comment by Sanguinalis, and related talk

I would prefer to take Jenin Massacre out of the lead altogether. If we consider only Western sources, it is not at all clear that "Jenin Massacre" was ever used as a name for the fighting of April 2002, even by the British press. Jaakobou seems to concede this when he writes "'jenin massacre' was never an official name". Compare, for example, Racak massacre. Here is a BBC article three years after the fact that uses the term "Racak massacre" in a plain, matter-of-fact, narrational voice to refer to that incident (in which the death toll was 45, by the way). There has never been an article in the British press that uses the term "Jenin massacre" in a comparable way. The most notorious article, the BBC's Jenin 'massacre evidence growing', does not state as fact that a massacre occured. The article only says that it is the opinion of an expert working for Amnesty International that there might have been a massacre, based on the evidence available at the time. Note that the word massacre in headline is inside a quotation. On the other hand, if we are talking about the Arab press, it seems to be the consensus here that the term Jenin massacre is still being used, so "previously referred to" does not apply. Sanguinalis 02:06, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The original allegations of a massacre, though, seem to be the reason this little battle gained any notoriety in the West to begin with. 1,539 Palestinians died thru 7 May 2002 during the Second Intifada due to Israeli violence (per UN ref). So, mathematically, this was an above average week, but not by an order of magnitude, as was thought at the time. Compare the 27 February 2002 IDF Operation, for lack of a working title, which the U.N. mentions. It got no international attention (beginning the same week as the U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan oops, I was thinking of Operation Anaconda; there musta been something going on 2002#February?) so no Western source knows what it was called, or how many people died; it's not on the templates we have for it and we have no article for it. We're suffering from WP:RECENT in reverse here. -- 146.115.58.152 05:04, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I think that that is a good solution, and hope that you'll be able to convince the rest of us. The only issue which I had with the edits (which were clearly marked and thought out - I'm grateful for that) was inclusion of the previous incursions etc. in the lead. I appreciate the attempt at "balance" as it were, but the previous IDF actions, while relevant, are not directly related in the way that the other "context" is, that is those specific bombings were cited by the Israelis as a direct part of the cassus belli. The information is still valuable to the broader picture, and so I moved it to the "background" section, albeit without the vague and possibly controversial "cycle" phrasing. Tewfik 08:49, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The anon's version has made the article worse, not better. Who exactly is it that is supposed to have referred to the subject of this article as the "Jenin massacre" in April 2002? The anon's text implies the term was once "in favor" with "international organizations". Which organizations exactly? AI? HRW? The UN? No one has produced a statement, report, or other document from any of these organizations which refer to the battle/incursion as the "Jenin massacre", and until someone does this text should be removed. Likewise there is no article from the British press during this period that refers to it as such. If the Arab press is meant, that should be said explicitly (and is, later in the article). Sanguinalis 14:05, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I think Sanguinalis sums it up well. The term "jenin massacre" appears to have been largely an invention of Israeli and pro-Israeli press, who then attributed it falsely to their opponents. In any case, it is not suitable for inclusion in the lead, which should focus primarily on the actual events on the ground, with secondary attention to international reaction. Currently we have a lead which talks more about Palestinian suicide bombings than any other topic; now you want to add information about sporadic reports in non-reliable media outlets? If you replace paragraphs 2 and 3 with a single brief mention that it was part of IDF operation "Defensive Shield", you have something close to the lede I'd prefer. The last thing we should do is stuff in more tangentally relevant information just to make Palestinians look bad, let alone draw false implications about what international organizations did. Eleland 14:35, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

User:Eleland,

The term "jenin massacre" appears to have been largely an invention of Israeli and pro-Israeli press, who then attributed it falsely to their opponents.

— by User:Eleland, 14:35, 9 September 2007

all i can say is, "wow". Jaakobou 14:59, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I put on my tin foil hat as I step away from the microphone to breathe. Wow. Kyaa the Catlord 17:20, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps Jaakobou or Kyaa can help. In "previously referred to as the Jenin Massacre", who exactly is it who once referred to the battle as "Jenin massacre", and now now longer does? Be specific. Sanguinalis 17:36, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

the mainstream media reported it either as massacre or possible massacre, the word battle was secondary in the reports. i suggest you go over the linked talk and also the article sources and compare the words in the 6 april - 28 april and the articles that came out afterwards. Jaakobou 23:03, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
My very first involvement in this talk page was to point out that an Anti-Defamation League screed claimed that world media rushed to embrace this "Jenin massacre" concept, yet none of the quotations given by the world media actually used the term "massacre" except in scare quotes, or attributed with some word such as "allegations" or "claimed". If you Google "Jenin massacre" you will find scores of rightwing media-flak groups, blogs, etc which all attribute this term "Jenin massacre" to supposedly anti-Israel sources, yet never quote them using it.
I have just now noticed that Media Lens made this observation long ago: "As of May 6, 2002, Media Lens found 65 examples in the Guardian and Observer, and 27 examples in the Independent, of articles containing the words 'Jenin' and 'massacre'. Remarkably, we found not even +one+ example of a Guardian, Observer or Independent journalist describing Jenin as a massacre. Instead, we found dozens of references to 'claims' and 'allegations' of a massacre in Jenin."
I don't know what Palestinian officials may have said off-the-cuff during those dark days when the camp was locked down, Israeli generals were estimating "hundreds" or "250 dead", and Ha'aretz was quoting Shimon Peres calling it a "massacre". But as Uri Avnery so aptly put it, "The army wanted to prevent the entrance of eye-witnesses into the camp at any price. The army knew that this would give rise to rumors about a terrible massacre, but preferred this to the disclosure of the truth. If one takes such extreme measures to hide something, one cannot complain about the rumors." Eleland 21:18, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

"Jenin Massacre" is currently the name of this entry's Arabic version. That phrase in Arabic returns 13,800 hits, none of them to CAMERA et al., while English returns 30,500. Such contemporary gems from the "Israeli and pro-Israeli press" include "Jenin 'massacre evidence growing'", "Arabs press UN over Jenin 'massacre'", and "Expert weighs up Jenin 'massacre'" from the BBC, "Jenin massacre uncovering" and "UN report on Jenin massacre flawed" from ABC (Au), "UN report rejects claims of Jenin massacre" from the Guardian, and others from pro-Israel bastions like Al Jazeera, Democracy Now!, CounterPunch, and more. Tewfik 09:03, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

“Weasel words and disruptive spin” in the lead

The weasel word reference, Tewfik, is to the repeated insertion of the word “some” – "some international sources" – on your stated grounds that “only the EU said without qualification” that Israel had used “indiscriminate” and disproportionate force. I don’t where you get this idea and why you keep insisting on it when it’s been shown to be false. The “spin,” of course, is a reference to your continual attempt to frontload, buff up, and even exaggerate those findings you agree with, while muffing or weasel-wording those you don’t. So the fact that human-rights groups “found no evidence of massacres” isn’t enough; you need them to have “disproved” or “overturned" the allegations, and you’re willing to have a syntactically muddled sentence in order to get that extra legalistic ooomph. And while you’re burnishing that finding, you won’t even acknowledge the fact that HRW very clearly described Israeli actions as “indiscriminate,” although it’s irrefutable. I don’t know how to describe this kind of behavior except as disruptive. At any rate, the version you’re edit-warring against is clean, elegant, straightforward, incontestably NPOV, and closely follows the language actually used by the sources. Please stop spinning it.

Now I’m going to give you some sources, most of which you should already have read, in the hopes that you’ll stop once and for all claiming that “only the EU” has described Israel’s use of force as “indiscriminate.” We’ve been through the UN report together; your argument, as I understand it, is that whenever it uses the word “indiscriminate” it’s quoting Palestinians. Even if this were true – and it isn’t – this would still be a very weak argument, because these are findings, and the report is obviously quoting what it finds to be credible. When the UN report says “Witness testimonies and human rights investigations allege that the destruction was both disproportionate and indiscriminate," (i) it is clear that they find the allegations credible, and (ii) while the "witness testimonies" are almost certainly Palestinians, the "human rights investigations" are almost certainly not. At any rate, the reliable sources do not agree with your idiosyncratic argument, and the UN report was widely described as finding Israel to have used “indiscriminate force”: The Toronto Star, for example, reported that “Israel is criticized for "disproportionate and indiscriminate destruction" of civilian property, using Palestinian civilians as human shields during house-to-house searches and for preventing aid and medical workers from staging rescue operations."

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel described in Ha'aretz how the "Jenin refugee camp has been subjected to indiscriminate house demolitions." The detailed Amnesty report "Shielded from Scrutiny: IDF violations in Jenin and Nablus" also focused on the "indiscriminate" use of force. But your most mind-boggling omission is Human Rights Watch's repeated statements on the matter. They say very clearly "Palestinians were used as human shields and the IDF employed indiscriminate and excessive use of force." In their Human Rights Watch World Report, 2003: Events of 2002, they describe the background of Operation Defensive Shield:

During the operation, Israeli soldiers repeatedly used indiscriminate and excessive force, killed civilians willfully and unlawfully, and used Palestinian civilians as humans shields.

Then in the next paragraph they focus specifically on the siege of Jenin:

Israeli security forces continued to resort to excessive and indiscriminate use of lethal force, causing numerous civilian deaths and serious injuries. In Jenin, Human Rights Watch documented twenty-two civilian killings during the IDF military operations in April. Many of them were killed willfully or unlawfully, and in some cases constituted war crimes.

It then goes on to describe a 57-year-old man in a wheelchair "equipped with a white flag" being shot to death and run over by IDF tanks, and a 37-year-old quadriplegic being crushed to death when his father was not permitted to evacuate him from their family home. Tewfik, an entire chapter of HRW's lengthy report on Jenin is called "Disproportionate and Indiscriminate Use of Force Without Military Necessity by the IDF." A sample passage:

The destruction in other areas of the camp was indiscriminate in its effect on the civilian population, and disproportionate to the military objective obtained... Human Rights Watch concludes that the Israeli military actions in the Jenin refugee camp included both indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. Some attacks were indiscriminate because Israeli forces, particularly the IDF helicopters, did not focus their firepower only towards legitimate military targets, but rather fired into the camp at random. This indiscriminate use of firepower added significantly to the civilian casualty toll of the fighting and the destruction of civilian homes in the camp. The Israeli offensive in Jenin refugee camp was also disproportionate, because the incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, and damage to civilian objects was excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

This chapter then has a subsection on "Indiscriminate Helicopter Fire":

Although missiles had been used from the beginning of the incursion, their use became particularly intense in the early morning hours of April 6. Testimony collected by Human Rights Watch indicates that many areas of the refugee camp were fired upon at that time, catching many sleeping civilians unaware. Many of the rockets used were U.S.-made wire-guided TOW missiles. The evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch suggests that many of the TOW missiles indiscriminately hit civilian homes and in at least one case a civilian was killed when she was struck by a helicopter missile. The number of solely civilian objects hit in the helicopter attacks the early morning of April 6 suggests that insufficient care was taken by Israeli forces to target only military objects. Due to the dense urban setting of the refugee camp, fighters and civilians were never at great distances. Nevertheless, such proximity does not provide a valid excuse by Israeli forces' action in firing upon the entire area as if it were a single military target... Indiscriminate attacks were most intense on April 6, but they did not entirely abate afterwards... Some of the helicopter missile fire was so indiscriminate that it nearly killed IDF soldiers.

Tewfik, can you please, please stop saying that among international sources, only a Spanish official of the U.N. described Israeli actions as “indiscriminate”? And will you please leave in place a neutral version of the lead, one which doesn’t muffle or disguise one set of HRW findings while foregrounding and burnishing another?--G-Dett 14:34, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

To your thorough and unimpeachable demolition of Tewfikstery I add only that Peter Beaumont of The Observer specifically described "helicopters ... firing indiscriminately into the city's crowded refugee camp"; he was an international journalist and a direct eyewitness. Tewfik argued previously that because Beaumont in another paragraph also said that Palestinians alleged indiscriminate helicopter fire, his direct objective-voice statements didn't count. It's in Talk:Battle of Jenin/Archive 3#The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed.. Eleland 14:46, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Instead of an essay justifying your allegations of bad faith, G-Dett, you could acknowledge that comments should be limited to the edits, and not the editors. The same goes for you, Eleland, since poison like Tewfikstery is just as wrong as me talking about some hypothetical "Elelandery". No one has the right to suspend WP:CIV because they believe that their position is the correct one, and I'm certainly not going to begin taking seriously comments that ignore it just because their frequency is increasing.

As for the actual substance, the above comments omit that the UN report still refuses unqualified use of the word in reference to Jenin, that the AI report still refuses any use of the word in reference to Jenin, and that despite its section documenting the cases it considered indiscriminate, HRW still makes the charge twice in its introduction, once in regard to the Israelis ("At times, however, IDF military attacks were indiscriminate"), once to the Palestinians ("using indiscriminate tactics such as planting improvised explosive"). Whether you agree that HRW is qualifying or not, none of this substantiates the idea that the objective position of all of these parties was that "Israeli actions were indiscriminate", nor are these the sum of relevant "international organisations" (the US being a notable example). Hence, "some international organisations". Tewfik 07:21, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

No, Tewfik.--G-Dett 10:07, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

The cites which are there support "Palestinian sources" but not "International". The UN report is based on Palestinian accounts. As for the NGOs and HR groups, that's in the next sentence. <<-armon->> 13:12, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

All the international findings – including that there was "no evidence of a massacre" – were based on Palestinian accounts, in this strict and tendentious construction. The Israelis refused to cooperate with the investigations, remember?--G-Dett 13:21, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Well I guess it's not surprising that the allegations were from Palestinian sources then. <<-armon->> 13:25, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
We should not be labelling sources by their ethnicity. That's the kind of thing that the South Africans used to do. PalestineRemembered 14:49, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Agree. So we won't change it to "Arab sources". <<-armon->> 15:20, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Armon, the minor problem with saying "Palestinian sources" is that it's well-poisoning, as well as patronizing in the way that PR accurately suggests. The major problem is that it's incredibly misleading, because the very sources whose findings of "no evidence of massacre" we're presenting as definitive, also very explicitly found Israel's use of force to be "indiscriminate." That's what's exhaustively demonstrated above, in the section you claim to have read.--G-Dett 15:35, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Actually no, it clearly and correctly identifies who made the claims. Adding in "International sources" is a way of "buffing up" the accusation which is misleading and not supported by the cites. <<-armon->> 15:41, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are international sources, Armon, not Palestinian ones. Again, please the relevant material.--G-Dett 15:48, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
...who also investigated, and later stepped back from the massacre claims. The very next sentence makes that clear. <<-armon->> 16:00, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes, the very next sentence makes that clear, so why are you tooling around with this one? The major international human-rights organizations found Israel to have used "indiscriminate" force, but your edit attributes this claim to Palestinians. Why?--G-Dett 16:35, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Because it was their claim. I thought I made that clear. <<-armon->> 16:55, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Good G-d, man, read the damn sources already. If you can't be bothered with that, read the damn section you're commenting in. "Indiscriminate" is HRW's claim; they reiterate in their conclusions again and again and again and again and again and again. HRW is international; HRW is not Palestinian; HRW says "indiscriminate." I'm in Boston, Armon, where are you? If you're not too far, I'll make the trip and read the sources out loud to you, if you can't bring yourself to drag your eyes over them.--G-Dett 17:10, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
That goes for you too, Kyaa. Read the damn sources. An edit like this, after all the foregoing, is disruptive.--G-Dett 18:25, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
HRW attributes their statement to Palestinian sources. WP:IDONTLIKEIT much? Kyaa the Catlord 22:47, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
I don't like these calculated misrepresentations of source materials much, and I'm tiring of these assembly-line ".....much?" quips as well. HRW doesn't attribute their statements about Israel's "indiscriminate and disproportionate" use of force to Palestinians any more than they attribute their finding of "no evidence of massacre" to Palestinians. Read the sources, Kyaa, and stop lying to readers and other editors.--G-Dett 23:31, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm rather concerned that PR is accusing us of being racist. I certainly hope he refactors his statement to avoid that accusation. Kyaa the Catlord 15:45, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Par for the course. <<-armon->> 16:00, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
When you two are finished licking each other's wounds, note that PR is clearly talking about the patronizing tone of the text, not about the flawed souls of editors.--G-Dett 16:32, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
PR is lucky to have you to "translate" for him. <<-armon->> 16:55, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
No, he's unlucky to have other editors misrepresenting him. It's been a problem in his time here, you will recall.--G-Dett 17:10, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

(outdent) Hmmm, my custom-made Personal vs. Substance meter seems to be blinking. Nudge, nudge. HG | Talk 02:22, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, I'm at a loss, HG. HRW's findings re "indiscriminate" are very clear, as are their findings about "no evidence of massacre." Armon and Kyaa like the latter, dislike the former, and are whitewashing accordingly. I've given voluminous evidence above, which I shouldn't have had to do, because it's their responsibility as editors to know the sources and not misrepresent them. Yes, we are to assume good faith, but even WP:AGF makes an exception when editors are evidently lying.--G-Dett 02:52, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I fail to see how the very next sentence which summarizes the HRGs' findings as "Major human rights organizations subsequently conducted extensive investigations and found no evidence of massacres, but strong prima facie evidence of IDF war crimes." is whitewashing. <<-armon->> 03:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
The part you're whitewashing is the part about "indiscriminate," which – despite an avalanche of source material to the contrary – you keep falsely attributing to "Palestinian sources."--G-Dett 04:26, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Again, because they made the initial allegations. The HRGs' findings are a different issue, so there's no reason to conflate them. <<-armon->> 04:36, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
And yet what you just deleted was not a conflation. And the edit you've left in place makes it look like only Palestinian sources described the Israeli attack as indiscriminate.--G-Dett 04:47, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
It certainly is a conflation. It's an attempt to piggyback what has been shown to be a less-reliable source, onto what's regarded as a more reliable one. This is an example of biased writing. The solution is to clearly attribute who said what. <<-armon->> 05:26, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure if you know what "conflation" means – or "piggyback" for that matter – but there's only one source we're discussing here, HRW. You're alternately suppressing their finding of "indiscriminate" use of force, or misrepresenting it as coming from as a "Palestinian source." Now Tewfik has returned to edit-warring to have it say massacre claims "were overturned by outside sources." So HRW is a "Palestinian source" or an "outside source" depending on whether you're trying to burnish/exaggerate a finding or to suppress/well-poison it. Way to go, team spin. The contempt you show for your fellow editors' intelligence, not to mention WP:NPOV, never ceases to appall.--G-Dett 11:44, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Just to be clear, I'm now going to ignore your tantrums. If you have anything of substance to say, try not to conflate it with personal attacks and incivility -otherwise it will just be drowned out by the background noise. <<-armon->> 00:06, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Oh, nonsense. My "tantrums" are the one thing you pay attention to. What you steadfastly ignore, as demonstrated above, is the actual source materials.--G-Dett 00:33, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Hear, hear. Enough punctilios. If, as Tewfik claims, he has read the sources, then he knows that HRW calls Israeli actions in Jenin "indescriminate" again and again and again. He knows that the EU describes "an indiscriminate use of force, that goes well beyond that of a battlefield", and that Amnesty describes "documented cases in Jenin and Nablus where people were killed or injured in circumstances suggesting that they were unlawfully and deliberately targeted". To claim that these statements do not represent allegations of indescriminate action can prima facie be regarded only as conscious distortion of the facts. I would welcome any information which dispels this perception, but I'm not holding my breath. Eleland 03:19, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Agreed. At some point it just becomes degrading to keep discussing this.--G-Dett 03:34, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Ultimately employed

Well, here's another narrow and clear-cut dispute which we can all spill some ink on.

The Israeli force consisted primarily of infantry supported by armoured vehicles and ultimately employed attack helicopters and armoured bulldozers as their casualties mounted,

Note six is a scholarly opinion piece by an Israeli grad student, seven is Peter Beaumont in the Observer, and eight is the Jafee Centre conference report.

6 says nothing of the sort about helicopters; just that they were used, and that the IDF officially stated their use was "carefully controlled". It does say that D-9s were used after the April 9 ambush. 7 says nothing about the timing of various weaponry; just that "Dr Zaid Ayasi, director of the hospital, tells us that many of the civilian victims that he knows of were hit by helicopter fire in those few days ." 8 has a reprint of BBC's Jeremy Cooke saying "And so for days now the Israeli helicopter gunships have been carrying out wave after wave of attacks against Jenin,"of HRW saying "Civilian residents of the camp described days of sustained missile fire from helicopters hitting their houses...Firing was particularly indiscriminate on the morning of April 6, when missiles were launched from helicopters", and of the UN recounting that "Interviews with witnesses conducted by human rights organizations suggest that tanks, helicopters and ground troops using small arms predominated in the firsttwo days ... There are reports that during IDF increased missile strikes from helicopters".

So that's what the currently used sources have to say; nothing about helicopter fire being "ultimately employed" after Israeli casualties. Armored bulldozer use was greatly stepped up, of course, after the IDF penetrated Hawashin around 9 April but this appears to have happened after their casualties had stopped, rather than "as their casualties mounted". I propose:

The Israeli force consisted of infantry and armored vehicles, supported by attack helicopters. Towards the end of operations armored bulldozers were used heavily. Eleland 13:30, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Sounds good to me. Kyaa the Catlord 13:32, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Agree. That was quick ;) <<-armon->> 13:42, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Agree. Sounds good to me. --Steve, Sm8900 20:48, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
Oppose - my understanding is that gunships were used extensively in the first few days, before it was clear there was going to be much resistance and before there were too many IDF engaged. They did this all over the camp, causing extensive damage before the militants were forced back into one smallish area, the one that was flattened. The helicopters "swarmed", fired bullets "like rain" and used a considerable number of TOW-missiles.
I should really provide the references for this, but it's all been in the article before, and been edit-warred out. In the meantime, the most important thing is to take out the "Body Count Estimates" section and put in place a structure from which a good article could eventually emerge. PalestineRemembered 14:47, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
PR, I think what Eleland, Kyaa, and Armon are saying is consistent with what you're saying, unless I'm missing something.--G-Dett 15:14, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I've made the edit, keeping the the 10% of the camp destroyed bit. OK? <<-armon->> 03:02, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Looks good. Tewfik 07:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Burgas00's edits

Armon why do you disagree with my edits to the lead section?--Burgas00 14:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

You reverted under me while I was still editing out the background you objected to. Anyway, this introduces weasel words. And I think the death toll is better at the end. If you want to highlight it, and I tend to agree, it's the human cost, placing it at the end is good. It's the end result. <<-armon->> 14:32, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Sorry if I accidentally reverted you. The really problematic bit for me is the martyrs bit, that many other editors seem to have objected to and seems overtly POV and inadequate for the lead section.

Taking the main elements of my edits:

Eliminating the phrase in the lead that claims that Palestinians know Jenin RC as a "Martyrs Capital It seems to say: "before you read on, don't forget that the people who live here are just a bunch of terrorists, so its ok if they get killed".

Any source which shows evidence of Martyrs capital being used does not prove that such a term is of general use among the Palestinian population and I am sure, as I recall a Palestinian editor expressing, many find it distateful. I would also understand that they find such a statement offensive since it would indirectly say that all Palestinians condone violence.

Eliminating the bit on past terrorist attacks from lead section

That information is already in the background as I have already expressed. I appreciate you have slightly shortened it. My point is that, Background sections exist for a reason, i.e. to offer facts which lead up and explain the described event (in this case the battle of Jenin. Including the terrorist attacks on Israel in the Lead points to an unexpressed urge to justify the Military Operation inmediately and is thus NPOV. I understand we are all politiced and edit these articles from a strong position. However, it would be better if all explanations on why things occur were in the section which serves that purpose.

My edits regarding the term massacre

I may have unwittingly introduced weasel words in this edit as you claim, but the rationale here is that we should not judge whether there was a massacre or not. It is not a court of law and there is no clear definition of massacre. What must be conveyed is that the term massacre was initially used to describe the event, and then dropped by most mainstream media. This is better than saying that initially it was thought that there was a massacre, and then it turned out that there wasn't.

Moving up the paragraph on deaths

Its not only a question of highlighting the human cost. Its more about logical coherency. The lead section should contain firstly what happened and then about the media/international reaction, not vice versa.


That sums up my position, pretty much. I won't edit the article again until some constructive dialogue is established. --Burgas00 15:00, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

User:Burgas00, there might be a cultural difference here. the reason palestinians use the term martyrs capital is because it's a sign of pride and respect among what they call resistance. if you consider the resistance terrorism, then you also consider "martyrs" to be suicide bombers and terrorists... however, if you subscribe to the culture that calls their activity "resistance" and "jihad" m then martyrdom has only good connotation and nothing bad with it... do you think posters of suicide bombers are in children's bedrooms because they consider "martyrdom" a bad word? Jaakobou 16:34, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
p.s. we're here to report the facts, not judge which culture is better/worse and who's language bears what POV with other people. Jaakobou 16:35, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
If we're to insert material of dubious provenance that Palestinians (apparently) find offensive, I wonder what other material we should be inserting into articles. Some youtube videos of settlers are so shocking I'm reluctant to write the key-words to help people find them. PalestineRemembered 10:53, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
read my comment again, your reply here doesn't make any sense. Jaakobou 11:03, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Jaakobou, yes we are here to report the facts, but to put relevant information in the right places. That X number of Palestinians refer to the Jenin refugee camp as the City of martyrs is not relevant in the lead section of this article. Its sole purpose is to present the camp as "a bunch of terrorists."

Your cultural argument is irrelevant. I'm sure you know as well as I do that the term "martyr" or "shaheed" is associated in the non-muslim world (and english speaking world) with religious violence and suicide bombing. In Arabic, however, the term is applied in all sorts of senses, including, for example, for victims of assasinations.

Therefore this phrase is what you would call "poisoning the well". This article is on English wikipedia and the aim is to present the refugee camp as terrorists immediately in the lead section, hoping for the reader to immediately associate the term "Martyr's capital" with "Terrorist Capital". It is a rather sinister form of editing. --Burgas00 18:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

When one of those sources is the government of Palestine, it becomes important to describe the city in "their own words" and that even the government of Palestine referred to the camp that way is rightfully telling. Kyaa the Catlord 20:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I see no link to the government of Palestine website. That a Fatah memorandum (according to an Israeli website) calls Jenin the capital of martyrs, bombers or whatever is not sufficient to attribute such a name to the palestinian people. It is neither the official name nor commonly used by Palestinians according to any credible source.

I stand by my above statement, which has not been addressed that this is simply an exercise of well poisoning and word twisting so as to make Jenin's citizens appear as terrorists and collectively responsible for their own deaths.

In any case, it is absolutely unnacceptable that such an irrelevant point be included in the lead section.

Im erasing this until some valid response to my arguments is offered. By the way, setting up a politicised clique in this article, stifling debate is not the way to proceed in wikipedia. --Burgas00 20:46, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

look into the "israeli source", the appendiges have the original documents in arabic. i'm pretty surprised at how you ignored 2 other editors and just did as you felt without waiting on a response. Jaakobou 21:50, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
You do realize that in 2002 the Fatah WAS the ruling government of Palestine? Kyaa the Catlord 23:19, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I fear that assertions like this are deceptive. Many Middle Eastern nations (perhaps all of them, other than Israel) don't operate with "one government". Palestine barely operates/operated with any government whatsoever - they couldn't even coordinate counting their dead. Articles such as this one will be severely compromised if we apply Western norms to other societies with very different cultures. PalestineRemembered 11:52, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Ok maybe I'm being hasty. I'll look into the source in next few days and discuss.--Burgas00 23:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

The sole evidence that Jenin is called the "capital of martyrs" is a single document, an internal memorandum written by officials of the local Fatah branch in Jenin, which the Israeli Defense Forces say was captured by Jenin. Besides the fact that it is open to question whether the IDF is presenting an authentic document, the fact that something is written an internal memorandum, meant to be kept secret, by some Fatah members does not make it the official position of Fatah, much less the Palestinian government. Sanguinalis 02:07, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Burgas is spot-on. The biased presentation of background information in the lede was designed to "soften up" the reader and predispose them to agree with the Israeli assault. And the free use of lurid terminology whenever it impugns the Palestinians is totally uncalled for. We have not quoted, for example, Peter Hansen expressing his "pure horror" at the results of the attack, which was extensively reported, but we're shoving this disputed and less notable claim right into the lede! Eleland 02:35, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

You're not being hasty, Burgas, and Sanguinalis' post is exactly right. Assuming it's authentic, the document in question was an internal memorandum sent by members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is secular and linked to Fatah, to Marwan Barghouti, trying to solicit more support for secular militant groups in Jenin to offset the Islamist influence. The point of the "martyrs' capital" rhetoric was to impress upon Barghouti/Fatah the strategic importance of Jenin for intra-Palestinian politics. A rough equivalent for purposes of illustration would be a private memorandum from a West Coast liberal lobby group, say a gay-rights group, to DNC headquarters, saying hey look we need more support here, don't you know the San Francisco Bay Area is widely known as the "Gay Area," and this is in your interest – libertarians are horning in on our territory, and we're crucial to your political base. This is intra-party political talk, not "reliable source" information about how Jenin is "known among Palestinians." According to one pro-Israel academic source, the document had "clear propaganda value" for Israel, and its discovery was described by one Israeli intelligence official as "the wettest dream I've ever dreamed." It was circulated by the sort of pro-Israel blogs, lobby groups and so on that some editors here depend upon for their understanding of history and contemporary politics, and their enthusiasm for it rivals that of the quoted intelligence official. The relevant policy violation is WP:UNDUE. The editors opposing you will never admit that, of course, but that is neither here nor there. The question to ask yourself is, if an internal memorandum sent to the IDF describing Operation Defensive Shield or the Jenin siege in unflattering terms were leaked and circulated by a small handful of pro-Palestinian sources and appeared once in the BBC, would we put that in the lead? Would Jaakobou, Tewfik, Kyaa et al insist that we do? Would they allow anyone to do that? Would they even allow it in the article at all? To ask these questions is to answer them.--G-Dett 02:52, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

comment - i suggest you go over all the refs for this instead of trying to defame a single source and claim, in unison, that it's a false presentation. as for the rest of your uncivil comment, User:G-Dett, i note you that it is inborderline soapbox and i do believe that i've already issues a last warning on such activity. should i understand that this assertion that i'm "enthusiastic about pro-Israel blogs and lobby groups" to be an honest mistake or should i pursue the case on the AN/I considering i've given due notices ? Jaakobou 04:20, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

We can understand and sympathise with your anger at being challenged in this fashion by what looks like excellent research and sound encyclopedic logic. Pity you've not responded in a similarily persuasive fashion.
Can I ask why you're not threading your comments in a regular fashion? We trust you're in favour of meaningful discussions taking place - and we'd hate you to get a reputation for disrupting TalkPages now, wouldn't we? PalestineRemembered 11:23, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Jaakobou, I've removed the reference to specific editors. Note that the "enthusiasm" I described is for the leaked document, not for blogs, etc. I gathered that you're enthusiastic about it from your speeches above, my favorite being the one about "cultural difference": "we're here to report the facts, not judge which culture is better/worse and who's language bears what POV with other people". I have to admit that made me smile.--G-Dett 13:22, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
indeed you've removed the specific editors' names but i'm not sure on how the reset of your explanation fits into my request that you refrain from making statements about what you allege i think, feel or do. to be frank, the suggestion that i'm thrilled at some reference could be regarded as an attempt to take a jab on my credibility; and i note you that there are other references also. Jaakobou 13:51, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
FYI on process. I analyzed some of the strengths and weaknesses of this section's discussion. (Partly I'm giving PR a critique, so cut him some slack and don't use my words against him.) In short, Burgas and Jaakobou had a good, reasoned exchange that has gotten sidetracked, inch by inch (no individual to be blamed), so it ends up as a dispute about user conduct. HG | Talk 15:07, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I took Jaakobou's suggestion to read the cited source, and oh my! how interesting! Source 1 doesn't make the claim at all! The string "martyr" appears thrice, in the following contexts: "Under the slabs of fallen masonry in Jenin is a new legend of martyrdom and heroism," "the camp's activists, drawn from the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Islamic Jihad and Hamas," and "they were interred together in Jenin's Martyrs' Cemetery." And the other source is a single sentence tacked on to the end of a BBC report, "according to Israel's count". We know very well where they got the claim from - the single document already cited. Thanks for playing, kids. Eleland 15:39, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, I'm back after that brief arrest.:-) As far as I'm concerned, the credibility and validity of sources is of little importance regarding my qualms with the phrase in the lead section. I have already expressed as clearly as I can why I am against it. However, if objections to credibility do exist, all the more reason to eliminate it.

I honestly think that its now time that we eliminate this line, considering such widespread and reasoned opposition to it. Jaakobou, I think recommend rather than responding by accusing me of sockpuppeteering and "suspicious behaviour" on my talk page, that you are flexible on this point. We all have political agendas on wikipedia, but we have to set limits on ourselves regarding what is fair and what is rational. --Burgas00 20:49, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

it's a bit difficult to negotiate your points when other editors jump in with what you called "such widespread and reasoned opposition to it", you'll pardon me if i completely 100% disagree with that assessment of the commentary by other editors. as to your point that it should not be in the lead, i tend to agree if only we can address the issue of what should and shouldn't be in the lead (btw, i've just recently archived that section due to lack of interest).
my point is that, if we are to explain that israel attacked indiscriminately, then it must be added that palestinians called the city by it's martyr nickname - if we are to remove the indiscriminate charge, then we can eliminate the "martyr capital" title from the 28 suicide bombers charge. however, the war crime allegation and the charge that thousands have been killed, makes it difficult to remove this "martyr's capital" charge since it POV's the intro against israel. i suggest we start a new subsection and deal with possible suggestions on how to treat this issue of what each side is allowed to say about the other in the intro. do you feel i should re-factor the old intro subsection, or would you prefer a new one? Jaakobou 04:24, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Blocks for disruption

I have blocked the following users for 24 hours for disruption on this article and others, each user should have a message on there talk page explaining why they were blocked:

  1. User:146.115.58.152 - blocked for 3RR on Jewish_Defense_League
  2. User:67.98.206.2 - Also blocked for 3RR on Jewish_Defense_League both IPs belong to the same user and have made at least two edits to this article (hence why I am mentioning him/her here)
  3. User:Armon for disruptive editing on this article. (defined by continued editwarring.)
  4. User:Burgas00 for disruptive editing on this article. (defined by continued editwarring.)

Folks, you guys should know better then to revert war all day, please discuss the issues here rather then trying to get your chosen version to be the top revision. As you all seem to have a decent grasp on the english language, I expect that we all are mature enough to discuss here on the talk page rather then disrupting the article. I would suggest that all of you look at WP:1RR as a possible ideal that may help you folks come to a compromise. Failure to stop editwarring will result in longer blocks. I wish you all best of luck in resolving this issue, and remind all of you that there are alternatives such as WP:MEDCAB and WP:MEDCOM and even a request for comment, use them. —— Eagle101 03:39, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Did you completely miss the section above where Burgas00 and Armon etc are discussing the edits you blocked them for? Kyaa the Catlord 05:13, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes I did, but in any case the revertwarring is disruptive, and has been going on for over a day. Let this serve as a reminder to everyone working on this article to discuss rather then revert. —— Eagle101 22:10, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I think this is blowing out of proportion. First Armon and me are blocked and now the page is blocked for 4 days? --Burgas00 20:35, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

As far as the protection, that was not done by me. In any case I think you all should take some time away from reverting each other and discuss here. —— Eagle101 22:10, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Protection

In response to a request at WP:RFPP and an ongoing edit war, I've protected the page for 4 days. Please use the time to try to reach a consensus on disputed issues. If a consensus is reached before the 4 days are up, you can request un-protection at WP:RFPP. As always, the article was protected without regard to its existing state, and the protection in no way endorses the current version as "correct". MastCell 18:51, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

{{editprotected}}

{{editprotected}}
"Palestinians refugees" in lede to "Palestinian refugees", please.

Of course, the whole exposition of Deir Yassin, etc is just a misguided WP:POINT attempt to expose the undue weight on suicide bombing in the next sentence, but we can work with that after the protection expires. Eleland 12:41, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

 Done - Nihiltres 13:06, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Now that we're all on enforced break...

...is anyone going to take up the task of stopping this edit war permanently? The most serious effort I'm aware of is HG's attempt to clarify editing issues, so we can move smoothly into formal mediation, but it seems to be a little stale right now.

So let me ask a few basic questions.

  1. Are there many serious disputes relating to neutrality, factual accuracy, proper citations, fair and encyclopedic language, etc etc here?
  2. Have these disputes been ongoing for weeks, become heated, and involved a large number of editors with different viewpoints? Have they resulted in blocks, page protection, WP:ANI, WP:WQA, and WP:RSN postings, and even an attempted community ban?
  3. Is there any reasonable basis to believe that this dispute will just resolve itself without outside intervention? Have previous efforts to resolve the dispute through more "light-weight" means had any success?
  4. If you answered "yes" to 1, 2, and 3: Doesn't this show the need for formal mediation pretty clearly?

Eleland 13:02, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Palestine Authority claim 56 dead?

after the massive success of closing the first issue raised on the dispute tag conflict in this subsection.

i'm opening a second subsection regarding the second complaint about the reliability of the definitiveness on the statement that the Palestinin Authority claimed 56 were dead.

please leave your commentary regarding the source/s on the related discussion section. Jaakobou 17:46, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

sources for the statement

  • - Paul Martin, The Washington Times, 5/1/2002 (papillonsartpalace.com) , (also on CAMERA)

comments/support/object reliability

  • The Washington Times is a fringe paper controlled by a religious cult. Paul Martin was accused of fabricating false quotations of Arab militant groups by Canada's national broadcaster, an accusation which has not been retracted. The P.A.'s official website alleges 380 missing, and that "the Israeli forces, during the massacre, transferred the bodies of the dead to be buried away from the refugee camp in order to conceal the evidences of the massacre." Eleland 20:33, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
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