HIGHLIGHTS: Annan Expects UN Jenin Team at Destination By Saturday.
Israel Wants Sommaruga Out, Annan Does'nt Agree.
Al-Kidwah Says Objections Intended to Undermine Integrity of Probe Process.

STORY Brushing aside Israel's demand for a delay, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a U.N. team on its way to look at Israel's military operation in the Jenin refugee camp.

The three-member fact-finding team and its military and police advisers were gathering in Geneva on Wednesday for meetings. Annan said he expected them to arrive in the Mideast region Saturday.

On Tuesday in Jerusalem, Israel said it would delay the team's arrival.

ISRAEL WANTS SOMMARUGA OUT

Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari is leading the team, which also includes Cornelio Sommaruga, a former president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Sadako Ogata, the former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The team has a military adviser, retired U.S. Gen. William Nash, and a police adviser, Peter Fitzgerald of Ireland.

A Western diplomat said Israel wanted to negotiate terms for the team's activities in Palestinian areas, and wanted Sommaruga removed.

Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, called the Israeli decision to seek a delay "blatant blackmail which will definitely undermine the integrity of the fact-finding process."

Israel's problems with the International Committee of the Red Cross - which Sommaruga headed from 1987 until 1999 - have been continual since Israel was first rejected for membership in the organization in 1949. The ICRC recognizes only the cross and the Muslim crescent as official emblems and will not sanction the Jewish star of David as a symbol for relief workers.

ANNAN WOULD NOT REULE OUT ADDITIONAL EXPERTS

Annan would not discuss his choice of team members, though he did not rule out adding additional experts if necessary.
The secretary-general said the mandate of the team was a Security Council resolution adopted unanimously last Friday that welcomed the fact-finding mission.

That resolution also expresses concern at "the dire humanitarian situation of the Palestinian civilian population," especially in Jenin.

On Tuesday, the council issued a statement saying it expects "fast implementation" of Friday's resolution - and Israel's "full cooperation" with the secretary-general and the team.

Israel asked to send representatives to brief U.N. officials "to make sure that the government's point of view was understood," and they could arrive on Thursday, the U.N. statement said.

The secretary-general agreed to postpone the departure of the fact-finding team to allow those consultations, "but he expects the team to be in the Middle East by this Saturday."

ISRAEL'S TROUBLED RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED NATIONS

Israel has had a difficult relationship with the United Nations, which once had a resolution on the books equating Zionism with racism. Relations improved under Annan but were strained again last year after the U.N. admitted it misled Israel about potential evidence in the kidnapping of Israeli troops in south Lebanon. Recent remarks made by Annan's envoy to the Mideast over the Jenin operation infuriated the Israeli government.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian observer to the United Nations Nasser Al-Kidwa speaks to reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, Tuesday April 23, 2002. The U.N. Security Council held emergency consultations Tuesday night after Israel sought to delay a U.N. fact-finding mission to investigate Israel's assault on the Jenin refugee camp, but Secretary-General Kofi Annan refused Israel's demand. (AP Photo/David Karp)