[How screwed up can you get? These ungrateful Palestinians intimidating the British who came to help them and being completely unsatisfied with the really top-notch work being done for them for FREE. The Palestinians are just like the blacks in Africa – ungrateful. They prefer their squalor and their hatred. That makes them happy. Jan]

A three-man British construction team that was helping to rebuild the Jenin refugee camp has quit the project, after months of intimidation and threats culminated in shots being fired at their headquarters earlier this month.

Work has now been halted on the $27 million project, funded by the United Arab Emirates Red Crescent Authority, The London Times reported on Thursday.

The three British construction experts “ project manager Paul Wolstenholme, construction manager Neil Johnston, and design manager Mike Luffingham “ were working on the construction of 435 Jenin apartments under the auspices of Britain’s Department for International Development.

Palestinian anger was reportedly aroused by dissatisfaction with the $135-a-meter dwellings, which featured Italian marble kitchen tops and ceramic tiles, and were being built to European construction standards.

“You wouldn’t believe how good the properties are,” Johnston was quoted as saying. “The finishing is fantastic.”

But according to the Times, many of the camp’s 14,000 inhabitants were also suspicious that the reconstruction work and attempts to move them to less crowded areas would undermine their status as refugees and weaken the camp’s ability to defend itself against any future IDF raids.

The real source of the discontent, however, was said to be a dispute among the Palestinians themselves.

One building in particular angered local residents, according to the Times, after the site was extended at the expense of neighbors. The extension was made when one of the powerful clans in the camp “bullied” the contractors.

In a report obtained by the Times, Johnston described how he had heard shots fired at 1:15 p.m. on June 9.

At the time, Luffingham was in the office with dozens of staff members from UNRWA: “I saw five gunmen leave the office,” Johnston was quoted as saying. “Two had pistols and three had rifles, and one of the men who had a pistol fired twice in the air as he was walking along the path from the office,” he said. “One of the gunmen was hysterical and fired a shot up at the office and I saw the bullet strike the building.”

A British worker, who was not identified, complained: “I have come to help these innocent individuals who lost their houses through no fault of their own “ and what do I get but harassment, threats, and not one word of thanks.”

He blamed “greedy individuals who are not satisfied with what they are getting and who use intimidation, violence, and personal connections to local leaders.”

The reconstruction was intended to replace buildings that were damaged or destroyed during the IDF’s Operation Defensive Shield anti-terrorist offensive in Jenin in April 2002.

Source: Jerusalem Post
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