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Ambulance chasing? UNRWA chief Peter Hansen in front of a relief vehicle
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners October 4, 2004 |
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The undiplomatic tiff between The United Nations Relief and Works Agency's Gaza chief Peter Hansen and Israel took a new turn Monday when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation published an interview in which Hansen said he believes there are Hamas members on UNRWA's payroll, and he has no problem with that.
"Oh I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime," said Hansen. "Hamas as a political organization does not mean that every member is a militant and we do not do political vetting and exclude people from one persuasion as against another," he told CBC TV.
"We demand of our staff, whatever their political persuasion is, that they behave in accordance with UN standards and norms for neutrality," he added.
Officials in Canada, which has outlawed Hamas as a terrorist organization, were not so nonchalant. A spokesperson for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs said that if it turns out that Hansen's comment was "not ... taken out of context and should it reflect UNRWA's position, we are deeply concerned, and will immediately seek clarification from Mr. Hansen directly and from UN authorities."
Canada supports UNWRA with $10 million a year.
Stretcher or rocket? Battle of the versions
On Friday the Israel Defense Forces released footage showing what it said were two men loading a Kassam rocket onto a van with a UN logo on its roof. The photographed images, taken from an unmanned drone over the Jabalya refugee camp, were broadcast on network television on Friday night. Army sources say that the IDF avoided firing at the vehicle, as it had done in other instances, fearing that it might be a UN ambulance.
However, speaking at a UN press conference in Gaza City, rescue worker Wahel Ghabayen, 38, said he is the man seen running in an IDF video, filmed by a pilotless drone, with a stretcher, not a rocket. Ghabayen said he was running to a school in the Jabalya refugee camp on Friday after he heard that someone there may have been injured there. The wounded boy had been moved by the time he got there, he said.
"I came back to the car with the stretcher, and I folded it and threw it inside the car," he said. "If it was a missile, I would not throw it into the car but would have put it in more carefully."
Lionel Brisson, UNRWA director of operations, said UN workers do not carry weapons or armed militants in the agency's vehicles. "We want an apology from the Israelis, because we didn't commit any wrongdoing."
Officially, Israel stuck by its version. A security official said there is no doubt that a Kassam rocket was placed in the vehicle. "If there are any doubts, they relate to the vehicle and whether it was indeed an authentic UN vehicle or whether the terrorists disguised a vehicle to evade being spotted by the army," he said.
Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman told The Jerusalem Post he still plans to show the video to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday morning. "I will present him with a very stern letter in which we demand that the United Nations carry out a really thorough investigation into this very serious incident. We believe that it is in the interest of the UN, maybe more than anyone else to look into the matter and to see if these very serious allegations are true," he said.
"I am going to demand of the secretary-general that a committee of inquiry look at all aspects [of the incident], including the very unfortunate record of [UNRWA head] Peter Hansen. His pattern of activity is very worrisome not just for us but for the UN's integrity and reputation," Gillerman told The Post.
However, other Israelis close to the affair began backing down, although they did not give their names. Maariv quoted one as saying that the long object in question "may well have been a stretcher."
Hansen, in an interview with Channel 1, said he wasn't worried about Gillerman's meeting with Annan. "What I am worried about is that such serious allegations are made on such a flimsy basis," he said, saying that the charges amounted to incitement against UNRWA.
In a press release he added: "I am concerned that such false allegations can lead to increased aggressive behavior by Israelis towards the United Nations in general and UN humanitarian staff in particular, and therefore seriously increase the risks which UN personnel face in this zone.
"Given the gravity of the allegation, I immediately ordered my staff to obtain a copy of the footage in question and initiated an investigation into the alleged facts. I have now seen the footage in question. I can confirm it shows one of UNRWA's ambulances. It then shows three persons walking swiftly towards it. One of these persons is carrying in one hand a light, long, and thin object. The person then easily throws the object into the back of the ambulance."
"While the quality of the video clip is poor, its analysis shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that the object carried and thrown into the vehicle is not/cannot be a Kassam rocket: I have been told that a Kassam rocket weighs at least 32 kilograms and that its diameter is approximately 17 cm.," wrote Hansen. He added that the object in the video is much thinner and lighter.
"In my mind and in that of those whom I have consulted, it is clearly a folded stretcher, a logical and indispensable accessory in any ambulance," Hansen said.
"It is not the first time that the government of Israel has propagated falsehoods against UNRWA: A few months ago, two cabinet ministers declared in public that UNRWA ambulances were carrying body parts of fallen Israeli soldiers. In that case, too, a thorough investigation was carried out and led to the conclusion that there was not a shred of evidence to suggest that the claim had any basis in fact," Hansen wrote.
Gillerman, however, said that it is Hansen who has a record of making false accusations against Israel. "Peter Hansen's record as far as accusations and denials is a poor one. I would expect someone in his position to to behave in a more responsible way. His reaction yesterday and today was pathetic.
"Military experts claim you can see very clearly that this is a rocket," Gillerman said.
According to the IDF Web site, a Kassam rocket can weigh as little as 5.5 kilograms or as much as 90.
Gillerman said the incident is part of a pattern in which UN vehicles have been used in support of terrorist activity. A UN vehicle was involved in the abduction of three IDF soldiers from Lebanon in 2000, and "only four months ago we saw an UNRWA vehicle being used to drive terrorists," he added.
Gillerman met Monday with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who agreed to send an investigating team to the region.
Arabs: UN must condemn Israeli "crimes"
In a statement issued after an emergency meeting called to discuss the Gaza violence, Arab League representatives called on Annan to prepare a report on the Israeli "crimes" against the Palestinian people and asked governments and relief agencies to send humanitarian aid. Several Arab countries and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council have condemned the Israeli offensive, with the GCC calling it "organized state terrorism." Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the attacks were "in violation of international laws and the Geneva agreements."
Annan urged Israel on Sunday to halt the raid, saying many civilians had been killed. He also called on Palestinian leaders to stop the rocket attacks on Israel. The Israeli incursions "have led to the deaths of scores of Palestinians, among them many civilians, including children," he said in a statement. He "reminds both sides to this conflict that they have a legal obligation to protect all civilians."
Gillerman expressed confidence Monday that there would be no lasting damage or sanctions from the Security Council meeting. "In the past, as well, the Americans have not allowed one-sided resolutions to pass. They understand that our activity is a response to Kassams, they understand that Israel has the right to self-defense."
AP contributed to this report.
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