[url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/487866.html[/url]
Rather forthright of the IDF. Although the statement about the IDF's 'credability' is laughable, I doubt they could careless.IDF admits Qassam was not transported in UN ambulance
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent and Itim
The Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman admitted Tuesday that the IDF was wrong to accuse the UNRWA of using its ambulances to transport Qassam rockets.
Brigadier General Ruth Yaron told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that the misunderstanding has also been clarified to the UN.
"It is obvious today, after all the inquiries made into the question, that it wasn't a Qassam rocket," she said.
Yaron added nevertheless that the error made by the IDF "was reasonable."
Her statement comes several days after the IDF removed from its internet site footage taken by an unmanned plane in the Jabalya refugee in the Gaza Strip, showing what the IDF said was a homemade rocket being loaded onto an ambulance.
Officials in the IDF are now admitting that the object does indeed appear to be a stretcher.
The army's statement will hopefully put an end to the affair, which has caused the IDF much embarrassment and harmed its credibility.
IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Moshe Ya'alon, also speaking before the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, said that he had known for nearly two years that terrorists used UNRWA equipment, taking advantage of the fact that Israel did not target UN vehicles. The IDF had evidence to prove these accusations, Yaalon said.
The chief of staff also said that it was possible to carry a Qassam missile in one hand, despite the claims made by UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen that this is impossible.
In an interview to the Haaretz several days after the release of the footage, Hansen said he believed the object shown in the blurred footage was a stretcher and not a rocket, due to its diameter and the Qassam's weight - approximately 50 kg - which could not be carried in one hand.
Last week, four days after the IDF released the footage to the press, Major General Israel Ziv, head of the IDF Operations Directorate, called a news conference and admitted that IDF analysts who reexamined the picture had their doubts.
Ziv refused nevertheless to admit that the army was wrong and accused the UN of helping terrorists.
The army also criticized the UN for not marking its vehicles' roofs. Their movement in an area where there is much terrorist activity proves there are organization members who support this activity, he said. "We believe that the aim was to provide cover for terrorist activity," he said.
The IDF said it would cooperate with a panel appointed by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to investigate Israel's allegations against UNRWA.
The IDF has arrested 31 Palestinian employees of various UN organizations in the last week alone on suspicion of being involved in terrorism.
