Israel Backtracks on U.N. Jenin Camp Probe

24/04/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Palestinians Not Surprized & Annan Rejects Delay.
A Second Round of Israeli Palestinian Talks on Standoff at Bethlehem Set for Wednesday.
Israel's Efforts to Isolate Arafat appear to be Eroding.

STORYIsrael back-tracked on international efforts to get to the bottom of Palestinian allegations of an Israeli massacre at the Jenin refugee camp, saying it wanted changes to a U.N. fact-finding mission before it would allow it to visit unless it included what it called military and counter-terrorism experts.

To the surprise of American as well as U.N. officials, Israel's U.N. ambassador, Yehuda Lancry, asked for a delay in the mission Israel had agreed to on Friday. He said Israeli military and counter-terrorism experts would come to New York on Thursday to discuss its activities.

In response, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the team might be expanded "as deemed necessary" but he expected the mission to be in the Middle East by Saturday.

PALESTINIANS NOT SURPRISED

Mohammed Rashid, an aide to Arafat, said the Palestinians were not surprised by Israel's decision not to cooperate with a fact-finding mission.

"It shows that Israel has something to hide concerning the atrocities and war crimes committed at the camp," he said.
A spokesman for Sharon had earlier welcomed a fact-finding mission, saying Israel had nothing to hide over Jenin.
At the United Nations in New York, Security Council President Sergei Lavrov, Russia's ambassador, said council members, called into a special session on a related Middle East issue, expected "fast implementation" of its Friday resolution approving the mission.

He said he conveyed this message to Lancry, adding that the council expected "full cooperation" from Israel.

Amid an international outcry at the scale of destruction in the Jenin camp, Palestinians have said hundreds of civilians may have been killed there, including many whose homes were shelled or bulldozed.

BETHLEHEM TALKS FAIL

In Bethlehem, Israel and the Palestinians failed in initial talks on Tuesday to end a standoff at the Church of the Nativity.
But the negotiators agreed to meet again on Wednesday to try to find a peaceful solution to the stalemate between Israeli occupation troops and dozens of Palestinian Resistance men who ran into the church after Israel's West Bank campaign began on March 29.

ARAFAT'S COMPOUND

Tanks still ringed President Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, where the army's detonation of what it said were unexploded grenades near his office caused alarm among Palestinians.

But Israeli efforts to isolate him seemed to be eroding, with planned visits this week by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey.

EU foreign policy chief Solana, denied access to Arafat when he and Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique went to the Middle East earlier in the month, planned to see Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters on Wednesday, EU president Spain said.

Pique told a news conference in Spain that Solana, accompanied by the EU's Middle East envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos, would also hold talks with Sharon.

PHOTO CAPTION

A house that had been partially left standing where painted pictures of Palestinian fighters stood is demolished after being deemed unsafe in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin Tuesday April 23, 2002. Palestinians and Arab leaders have accused Israel of a massacre of civilians in the camp. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)