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Israel fears forced UN inquiry if Annan disbands Jenin team
Ha'aretz Daily ^
Posted on 05/01/2002 10:09:15 AM PDT by RCW2001
| Israel fears forced UN inquiry if Annan disbands Jenin team |
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| By Shlomo Shamir, Ha'aretz Correspondent, Ha'aretz Service and agencies |
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Officials in Israel fear that if the UN fact-finding mission over IDF operations in Jenin refugee camp is disbanded, the Security Council - scheduled to meet late on Wednesday - may decide to appoint a broader and potentially more damaging commission of inquiry which Israel would be forced to accept.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will meet Wednesday afternoon to coordinate their positions over the issue.
Former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said Wednesday that an inquiry panel would likely pose a much more profound problem for Israel, and that if the government rejected such a commission, the step could lead to a "frontal confrontation with serious operative decisions regarding Israel, which would in turn put additional pressure on the United States, with respect to its ability to stand alongside Israel."
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, faced with strong Israeli opposition to the UN fact-finding team that was to look into Israel's military assault on the Jenin refugee camp, said late Tuesday he was "inclined to disband" the panel, but said he would wait for reactions from a late Wednesday Security Council meeting, before he formally calls the team back from Geneva.
The security cabinet decided Tuesday not to cooperate with a UN inquiry until six Israeli demands had been met regarding the mandate and composition of the team. The team's departure for Israel has been delayed since Saturday by Israeli objections.
On Tuesday, a top-ranking UN official on the team told Ha'aretz in Geneva that "the delegation is almost certain to be disbanded."
"Given the team's inability to proceed and the difficulties we have had, I was inclined to disband it," Annan said late Tuesday. "I will get some reaction from them (the council), take their counsel and move on from there," Annan said. The Security Council met late Tuesday to consider the dispute, but took no action.
The Palestinians have accused IDF troops of massacres against camp residents. Israel rejects the charges, saying the Jenin operation was made necessary by a wave of suicide bombings and that 26 bombers came from Jenin. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Tuesday that Israel's main condition for allowing the fact-finding team to arrive was that Israel would decide which Israeli witnesses would testify before the UN team. An Israeli official said the government wanted guarantees that witnesses would be immune from any war crimes prosecution arising from their testimony.
Fifty-two people have been confirmed killed in the Jenin camp but Palestinian doctors say hundreds more civilians may have been killed, many in homes razed by bulldozers during fighting. "Disbanding the mission would amount to collusion in the Israeli crime and is a flagrant violation of international law," said Mohammed Rashid, an aide to Arafat.
Israel says only seven civilians were killed in the camp, along with 45 Palestinian fighters. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers were also killed.
"Any attempt to defame us or put us on trial before the world will not succeed. No other army...has acted according to such high moral standards," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said.
After two days of meetings last week between UN and Israeli officials, Annan said he wrote a letter to Peres in which "I felt I clarified the issues and dealt with their concerns, but evidently that was not the case."
Annan said he chose the three-member team with the view "that it was extremely important to find out what happened (in Jenin)."
"There are lots of accusations, lots of rumors. We don't know what is true and what is not. And I really felt that it was in everyone's interest that we clarify this issue as quickly as possible," he said.
U.S. officials said the Bush administration would still like to see a fact-finding mission but the U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Negroponte said the United States will "fully respect" the secretary-general's decision. |
TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Israel
KEYWORDS:
1
posted on
05/01/2002 10:09:16 AM PDT
by
RCW2001
To: RCW2001
Israel agreed to release Arafat, which is what America wants. Unless Bush is still angry with Sharon, he'll make sure only a fair inquiry is called for.
2
posted on
05/01/2002 10:10:59 AM PDT
by
xm177e2
To: RCW2001
To: RCW2001
Former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said Wednesday that an inquiry panel would likely pose a much more profound problem for Israel, and that if the government rejected such a commission, the step could lead to a "frontal confrontation with serious operative decisions regarding Israel, which would in turn put additional pressure on the United States, with respect to its ability to stand alongside Israel." Am I missing something here...if they have nothing to worry about, why don't they allow Annan's group to examine Jenin?
4
posted on
05/01/2002 10:26:52 AM PDT
by
stanz
To: stanz
Am I missing something here...if they have nothing to worry about, why don't they allow Annan's group to examine Jenin? Because the Israelis think the deck is stacked against them. If you get a bunch of professional finger pointers with no military experience, they'll look at the 100 square meters that were leveled and say it was a "massacre." Then they'll ask the Israelis to hand over their soldiers for a tribunal. What are the United Nations united in? "United against US", I'd say.
To: stanz
why don't they allow Annan's group to examine Jenin?
At a minimum, the UN has a huge conflict of interest.
At a max, the UN may very well be co-conspirators in Pali war crimes!
Hardly a non-biased group.
To: stanz
The head of this UN inquiry mission, former president of Red Cross has compared the Jewish star of david to the Nazi swastika. Another member, former president of Finland is a friend of Arafat. While Israel has nothing to hide, it has every reason not to cooperate with this "UNbiased" inquiry.
7
posted on
05/01/2002 10:34:52 AM PDT
by
l33t
To: RCW2001
Sounds like an opportunity is building for Israel to give the U.N. a well-deserved kick in the arse at a higher level. The U.N. should be investigating how Jenin, a "refugee camp," under its auspices became a terrorist stronghold and a supplier of rabid, unfettered Jew killers.
To: RCW2001
which Israel would be forced to accept. The UN and what army?
;-)
To: RCW2001
One thing (of several) that I don't get about all this is why the UN needs Israel's agreement to begin their investigation of what happened. The Israelis are out of Jenin, and all kinds of human rights groups and reporters seem to have free run of the place. Why doesn't the commission just go there and see what they can find out?
I don't know about the relevant principles of international law, but might there not be something analogous to the U.S. right to refuse to give incriminating information about oneself? If I think a prosecution against me is biased, I can refuse to cooperate with it and the prosecutor will be left to make a case (or not) without my help. If the case cannot be made without my providing incriminating evidence, then it will not be made. Mightn't Israel say, "If you think we did wrong, bring forth evidence, but don't ask us to hang ourselves."?
10
posted on
05/01/2002 12:03:49 PM PDT
by
Stirner
To: RCW2001
I haven't noticed Israel much gives a damn what the UN says, thinks, or does, have you ???
To: RCW2001
Why would Israel be "forced to accept" a Security Council "ordered" visit? Are they not a sovreign nation? I think it is HAARETZ which fears the U.N., not Sharon, who struck an historic blow for National Sovreignty by refusing to allow the U.N. to interrogate members of his armed forces.
To: stanz
KRAUTHAMMER:
Three people have been chosen by the United Nations to judge Israel's actions in Jenin. Two are sons of Europe, and one of those is Cornelio Sommaruga. As former head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Sommaruga spent 12 years ensuring that the only nation on earth to be refused admission to the International Red Cross is Israel. The problem, he said, was its symbol: "If we're going to have the Shield of David, why would we not have to accept the swastika?"
This man will sit in judgment of the Jews. Marx was wrong when he said that history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. The second time is tragedy too
13
posted on
05/01/2002 12:45:38 PM PDT
by
dennisw
To: genefromjersey
I haven't noticed Israel much gives a damn what the UN says, thinks, or does, have you ???
The UN of today is Muslim dominated and 3rd world dominated. They screw Israel at every turn. Wake up!
14
posted on
05/01/2002 12:54:02 PM PDT
by
dennisw
To: dennisw
My friend, it's been almost 50 years since I thought the UN would save the world. I shrugged off that childhood stuff when I was about 20...
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