HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------Annan considers disbanding Jenin team
By William Reilly
From
the International
Desk
Published
4/30/2002 3:22 PM
UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (UPI) -- A top U.N. official says Secretary-General Kofi Annan Tuesday is considering disbanding the Jenin fact-finding team or allowing it to work from Geneva, where it has waited a week for Israeli acceptance.
Israel said it would not cooperate with the U.N. team until its objections about the composition and the scope of the mission were resolved.
Undersecretary-General Kieran Prendergast told the Security Council Annan is inclined to disband the team.
"I briefed the council on the Israeli government decision," Prendergast said. "I told them that in the secretary general's view a thorough, credible and balanced report on recent events in Jenin refugee camp would not be possible without the full cooperation of the government of Israel."
He also said "events on the ground were moving rapidly and with every passing day it becomes more difficult to determine what took place on the ground in Jenin."
Said Prendergast, "In the circumstances and since it appears by today's (Tuesday's) cabinet statement by Israel the difficulties by way of deployment of the fact-finding team will not be resolved any time soon, the secretary-general is minded to disband the team and I have so informed the council."
Shortly afterward, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte told reporters that Prendergast "mentioned two options that the secretary-general is considering. One would be for the fact-finding team to actually begin its work in Geneva and continue there until such time as terms of reference could be worked out with the government of Israel. And the other alternative that the secretary-general was considering was the idea of simply abandoning the mission of the fact-finding team on the assumption that satisfactory terms of reference could not be worked out."
Other members of the council also reported the second option, but it was clear, they all said, Annan was leaning to disbanding the team.
It was believed Prendergast would carry the mood of the council back to the secretary-general who would then make a decision. While several diplomats told reporters they felt it was Annan's decision, others felt that because the council endorsed his "initiative" to send the fact-finding team, it would require some action by the panel.
Negroponte was of the opinion, it was the secretary-general's decision.
"After all, you will recall that our resolution, in the first instance, was one of expression of support for the secretary-general's initiative," he said. "This was his initiative."
Negroponte also urged reporters to step back and look at the situation "in the context of some of the important progress that has been achieved in the diplomatic arena in the Middle East during the last couple of weeks: the alleviation of the siege of Ramallah, the on-going discussions in Bethlehem."
He added, "I think it is important that you don't look at this one issue of the fact-finding mission in isolation from other developments that are occurring in the region."
Before Prendergast's comments, Annan had said the United Nations had done all it could to meet Israel's conditions.
"We've really done everything to meet them, to deal with their concerns" about the fairness of the team named, Annan said. "Obviously the decision is theirs, and I'm waiting ... to get a formal notification."
He told reporters that members of the team "have not been twiddling their fingers. They've been doing some very useful work and people have been talking to them, giving them dispositions and so, in a way, they have already started their work in Geneva, pending their arrival in the region."
Annan had wanted the mission to be in the Middle East Friday, but first granted a day's delay, then another for the Sabbath. Israel continued to delay on its own for a decision until Tuesday.
"My understanding was that Foreign Minister (Shimon) Peres was going to write to me after the Cabinet decision," Annan told reporters when asked for reaction to reports of the Cabinet refusal. "I haven't received it yet, but I have also heard the press reports that they may not cooperate or need further questions answered. So I'll wait for formal notification from the authorities."
Israel authorities previously had said they welcomed the team, Annan said.
He said Israel had "raised some questions as to whether the team has enough military expertise and people with intelligence and counter-terrorism expertise. And we've dealt with that."
The fact-finding team was assembled April 22 to investigate reports of human-rights abuses and charges of war crimes during and after an intense firefight between Israelis and Palestinians in Jenin several weeks ago.
Peres said Tuesday the government still had six conditions. Foreign Ministry officials would not list Israel's demands, but Peres said the United Nations "more or less " knows them. Sources said they include the government's insistence on the right to determine who will testify before the committee. Peres said the government does not want Israeli soldiers to be, "questioned, not even testify as witnesses, unless the army decides it is vital."
Palestinian Authority officials have said hundreds of civilian residents of the camp were killed while others charged that there had been a massacre. Civilian casualties were high, Palestinians said. But Israel officials say seven civilians and 45 Palestinian fighters were killed, and 23 Israeli soldiers lost their lives.
The human-rights group Amnesty International said it found preliminary evidence that Israeli soldiers violated the Geneva conventions and other laws of war.
The Israeli military said its three-week incursion into to the camp was necessary to "uproot an infrastructure of terror," maintaining it tried to minimize civilian casualties. The military charged that Palestinians broke the laws of war by booby trapping homes, and deliberately taking shelter among civilians.
International organizations have criticized Israel for denying access to ambulances and water even after the fighting ended, a charge the army denies.
Sunday, the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accepted a U.S. proposal designed to lift the siege on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. Ministers said the proposal was accepted to gain U.S. support on the Jenin issue.
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(With reporting by Joshua Brilliant in Tel Aviv, Israel.)
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