Annan Considers Aborting U.N. Mission to Jenin
By Evelyn Leopold
Tue Apr 30, 6:11 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) on Tuesday was close to abandoning a U.N. fact-finding mission on Israel's military assault in the Jenin refugee camp because of Israel's continued objections.
"The secretary-general is minded to disband the team," said Kieran Prendergast, the U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs, after briefing the 15-member Security Council.
Annan was expected to make a decision shortly. Diplomats said he wanted to disband the team, gathered in Geneva, immediately. He then was considering whether to cancel the mission entirely or resume legal talks with Israeli officials, enabling it to go forward at a future date.
Prendergast told reporters that "with every passing day it becomes more difficult to determine what took place on the ground in Jenin," scene of a fierce battle between Israelis and Palestinians. Arab nations say a massacre occurred at the devastated camp but Israel denies this and says it was searching for "terrorist networks."
The United States, however, was in favor of keeping the mission alive, diplomats said. "They want to breathe life into a corpse," said one envoy, speaking on condition of anonymity.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte would only say, "Obviously when secretary-general makes his decision, we will fully respect it."
Arab nations immediately drew up a Security Council resolution demanding Israeli cooperation with the mission and threatening other undefined measures if it did not. But they canceled action on Tuesday and will resume on Wednesday.
Their draft resolution is under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which is mandatory and allows sanctions. But the United States and others have signaled they would oppose the measure in its current form.
'PLAYING A GAME'
Egypt's U.N. Ambassador Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said Israel was "acting outside of international legality" and the council would have to act. "The Israelis are playing a game and they are ... rebuffing the secretary-general as well as the Security Council," he said.
Israel on April 19 initially welcomed the initiative and Annan named former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari to head it. But Israel objected to a U.S.-initiated Security Council resolution to approve the team, which prompted it to insist on still-disputed terms for the mission's operation.
The United States drafted the resolution so it would not have veto a stronger Arab-initiated measure.
"We did not decide to reject the team," said Aaron Jacob, Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador. "But the government of Israel decided that the time was not ripe."
Saying Israel has nothing to hide, Jacob told Reuters his country had to make sure the team was objective and its findings would not become politicized.
"Some parties are interested in advancing a political agenda and are not in pursuit of accurate information," Jacob said. "So we have to protect our interests and insist terms of reference be accurately defined."
'HANDS ARE COMPLETELY CLEAN'
In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Israel was "ready for any examination, since its hands are completely clean." He said Israel had six objections to the mission's ground rules that had not been satisfactorily answered, the main one being that "only Israel can decide who will testify before the committee."
The Israelis also have argued that the team should not be allowed to draw conclusions but only gather facts.
Israel also seeks government control over the mission's access to Israeli witnesses and wants soldiers and government employees protected from prosecution on war-crimes charges.
Peres said he feared Israeli soldiers would be put on trial "like any crime committed in civilian life."
"The story began with the so-called fact that 3,000 Palestinian civilians lost their life" but now Palestinians are saying it is down to several hundred, he told CNN. "To the best of our knowledge, seven civilian persons lost their life."
Peres said no American commander would allow such an investigation of a U.S. soldier fighting terrorism or otherwise defending his country.
But Annan told reporters in the morning that the United Nations (news - web sites) had "done everything" to meet Israeli concerns.
"We've really done everything to deal with their concerns. And I think we've been very forthcoming," Annan said. He noted that Peres and Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer both had told him a U.N. team would be welcome. |
