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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-04/24/content_369971.htm Israel to Reject U.N. Investigation Into Jenin Refugee Camp --------------------------------------------------------- Xinhuanet 2002-04-24 05:11:45 JERUSALEM, April 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided Tuesday night to halt agreement to the arrival of the U.N. fact-finding mission on Jenin refugee camp, Israel Radio reported. The decision was reportedly made after a deliberation by the prime minister. Senior officials cited three reasons for the decision. Firstly, the members appointed to the delegation differ from those agreed upon by Israel. Secondly, the committee has a political rather than a military make-up. Israel is of the opinion that a military make-up is necessary to investigate the issues. And thirdly, Israel was consulted on very few matters and issues that were agreed upon were altered. Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Yehuda Lancry will inform U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan of the decision later Tuesday. Earlier in the day, Sharon said that Israel has no choice but to accept the team to the West Bank city of Jenin, and that he feared the results it would produce. The team led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari is expected to determine what happened during Israel's military operations in the refugee camp, which is believed to be the fiercest fighting during the operations in the West Bank. There is a fierce dispute on the death toll in the refugee camp. Palestinians have claimed that hundreds of people were killed in a "massacre" in the camp, while the Israeli side has been insisting that only dozens were killed. Under the pressure from the international community, Israel agreed over the weekend to cooperate with the United Nations to investigate into the Jenin affair. But Israel stressed the fact-finding team could not include U.N. Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen or Human Rights High Commissioner Mary Robinson, who are regarded by Israel as biased to the Palestinians. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Sunday that the fact- finding team was not "a team of prosecutors or criminal investigators... They are going to establish the facts." The other two team members are Cornelio Sommaruga, former president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Sadako Ogata, the former U.N. high commissioner for refugees who is Japan's special envoy on Afghan reconstruction. Larsen, however, continued his fierce criticism on Israel Monday after a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Larsen said "what I did, on the basis of what I saw, what I heard and what I smelt, was to say that this was shocking and horrifying." "I think that any decent human being with a heart would have reacted the same way I did and used similar words...I described what I saw, people with their bare hands digging deformed bodies out of the rubble," he said. Enditem ===== Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace. Weekly peace walks around Lake Merritt in Oakland. Starts & ends at the colonnade between Grand & Lakeshore Avenues, 3 P.M., every Sunday. Info: (510)763-8712, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or http://www.webwm.com/LMNOP __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
