<Aerial photographs show that the annihilation of Jenin was greatly exaggerated. The actual combat zone where everything was flattened was about 100 meters on a side.

This also happened here after the big San Francisco earthquake of 1989. While locally, damage was indeed serious and often fatal, the same couple of blocks in the city were photographed over and over again, leading my relatives, among others, to assume the entire area had been destroyed. In fact, throughout most of the area, there were no visible signs that an earthquake had happened at all.

We'll see what develops after the "massacre" is further investigated. Tops on the list for Palestinian sympathizers will be to remove evidence of booby traps in buildings and weapons on bodies, so one hopes that the U.N. will be on top of this. Obviously, if hundreds of people had been massacred, there would be no way to hide this for long.

Another article on the battle appears in the LA Times. Note the reference to the "vast part" of the camp reduced to "wasteland."

In the press, everything the Palestinians say is repeated, often with the phrase, "Prove it's not true."

Everything the Israeli army says is greeted with, "Prove it is true."

Yet both sides have an agenda.