http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/04/18552.php

Israel withdraws agreement to let UN team visit Jenin
by Tom • Tuesday April 23, 2002 at 01:56 PM

Israel withdraws agreement to let UN team visit Jenin:radio JERUSALEM, April 23 AFP|Published Wednesday April 24, 6:27 AM

The Israeli government has decided to withdraw its approval for a UN fact-finding mission to visit the devastated West Bank Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin, Israeli public radio reported tonight.

The decision will be communicated to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan "in the coming hours", the radio quoted a senior official as saying.

The report said the decision was taken after consultations between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and officials of the defence ministry and army, as well as the foreign ministry.

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Israel suspends agreement to cooperate with UN mission

By Ha'aretz Service and agencies




Following a deliberation held Tuesday evening, Prime Minster Ariel Sharon decided that Israel would suspend its agreement to cooperate with the United Nations fact-finding mission to the Jenin refugee camp. Well-informed sources in Jerusalem cited three reasons for the decision.

1. The criteria for appointing the candidates to the mission differ from those agreed upon by Israel.

2. The committee has a political rather than military make-up. Israel is of the opinion that the mission should be made up largely of military experts.

3. Israel was consulted on very few matters regarding the mission, and issues that were agreed upon were altered.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Yehuda Lancry will inform Secretary General Kofi Annan of the decision later Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, Sharon had told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel had been left with no choice but to accept the fact-finding mission to the Jenin refugee camp, but that he feared the outcome of the mission.

Sharon reiterated his position that he would not evacuate any settlements in the territories, saying that "the fate of Netzarim is the fate of Tel Aviv."

He told those present that the terror in the Gaza Strip was ongoing, Army Radio reported.

Knesset member Ran Cohen (Meretz) said that he suspected Sharon's remarks meant that the IDF would soon carry out an
operation in Gaza, the radio said.

A high-ranking IDF officer reported to the committee that there had recently been 250 terror attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Annan: UN team not 'prosecutors or criminal investigators'
Annan said Monday that the fact-finding mission he was dispatching to the camp was not "a team of prosecutors or criminal investigators... They are going to establish the facts," he said, in answer to a question over whether the team would be looking into possible war crimes.

Events that unfolded at the camp - the scene of the fiercest fighting during the IDF offensive in the West Bank - are at the center of a heated dispute, with the Palestinians claiming hundreds were killed in a massacre, and Israeli leaders insisting that several dozen Palestinians were killed, the vast majority gunmen, in house-to-house fighting.

While the Palestinians welcomed the appointment of the three-member fact-finding team, Israeli leaders have responded
skeptically, with Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer calling Annan to complain that Israel was not consulted, as was requested.

Earlier Monday, Annan announced that former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari would lead the team, which would also include Cornelio Sommaruga, former president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Sadako Ogata, the former UN high commissioner for refugees.

One of Israel's main criticisms - the absence of a military man on the inspection panel - was answered when Annan upgraded U.S. Maj. Gen. William Nash from military adviser to the team, to a full-fledged delegate. Nash commanded a multinational force in Bosnia in 1996 and was the U.N. administrator in northern Kosovo in 2000.

The official Israeli sources were critical of the composition of the team, saying they were "surprised that the secretary general did not consult Israel about its makeup. We expected the fact finding about operations would be done by military experts." But they reiterated comments by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to Annan, that "Israel has nothing to hide."

Government sources said the makeup of the commission was "the lesser of evils" but expressed a fear that the backgrounds of
Ogata and Sammaruga in humanitarian affairs could backfire on Israel. The Israeli sources considered the former Finnish
President Ahtisaari, who visited Israel in 1999, the "least problematic" of the commission members, but noted that none of the commission members have any experience or understanding of Middle East affairs, especially the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Despite Israeli criticism Annan said "I expect the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to cooperate fully with the team and provide full and complete access to all sides, sources of information, and individuals that the team will consider necessary to meet in the exercise of their functions."

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had questioned the legitimacy of the fact-finding team Tuesday, telling Israel Radio that it was clear it would be guided "by a desire to harm Israel. It will produce results that will harm Israel. It is completely illegitimate."

Netanyahu, who plans to challenge Sharon for leadership of the Likud ahead of national elections scheduled for late 2003, also said that the UN, instead of setting up a team to inspect events at the Jenin camp, should be investigating Palestinian suicide attacks on Israel.

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