Editing Operation Defensive Shield (section)

==== Destruction of Palestinian Authority property ====
The UN report noted that "United Nations agencies and other international agencies, when allowed into Ramallah and other Palestinian cities, documented extensive physical damage to Palestinian Authority civilian property. That damage included the destruction of office equipment, such as computers and photocopying machines, that did not appear to be related to military objectives. While denying that such destruction was systematic, the Israeli Defence Forces have admitted that their personnel engaged in some acts of vandalism, and are carrying out some related prosecutions."<ref name=jenin_report_press /><ref name=UNreport />

[[Cheryl Rubenberg]] writes that data and records held by Palestinian civilian institutions were systematically destroyed by the IDF; among the institutions affected were the [[Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics]] (PCBS), the Palestinian Authority's Ministries of Culture, Education and Health, and the [[Palestine International Bank]].<ref name=Rubenbergp351>Cheryl Rubenberg, [https://archive.org/details/palestiniansinse0000rube/page/352 <!-- quote=operation defensive shield march. --> ''The Palestinians–In Search of a Just Peace''], pp. 351–352. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pna.gov.ps/new/repintrod02.pdf |title=Report on the Destruction to Palestinian Governmental Institutions in Ramallah Caused by IDF Forces Between March 29 and April 21, 2002 |access-date=2014-01-05 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030323112115/http://www.pna.gov.ps/new/repintrod02.pdf |archive-date=March 23, 2003}}. Palestinian NGO Emergency Initiative in Jerusalem (PNEIJ), 22 April 2002. The report is also published on [http://www.seruv.org.il/testimonies/destruction_april_ram.htm this website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930114712/http://www.seruv.org.il/testimonies/destruction_april_ram.htm |date=September 30, 2013}}</ref><ref name="pitt.edu">[http://pitt.edu/~ttwiss/irtf/palestinlibsdmg.html ''Damage to Palestinian Libraries and Archives during the Spring of 2002''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224156/http://www.pitt.edu/~ttwiss/irtf/palestinlibsdmg.html |date=2016-03-03}}. University of Pittsburgh, 16 January 2003</ref>

[[Amira Hass]], an Israeli reporter for ''[[Haaretz]]'', criticized the IDF for targeting computer files and printed records, dubbing the offensive "Operation Destroy the Data". She wrote that "this was not a mission to search and destroy the terrorist infrastructure.&nbsp;... There was a decision made to vandalize the civic, administrative, cultural infrastructure developed by Palestinian society".<ref>Hass, Amira. ''Haaretz'', 24 April 2002, {{cite web|url=http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=155181 |title=Operation Destroy the Data |access-date=2007-11-16 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030313224244/http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=155181 |archive-date=March 13, 2003}} on web.archive.org.</ref>