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AP. 30 April 2002. Israel Says It Will Not Cooperate With U.N.-Fact Finding Team on Jenin for Now. JERUSALEM -- Israel decided Tuesday not to cooperate with a U.N. inquiry into the fighting at the Jenin refugee camp for now, defying a call by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to allow his fact-finding team to begin working immediately. The Israeli military, meanwhile, said it expected to withdraw from the West Bank town of Hebron later Tuesday after a two-day incursion to search for Palestinian militants. Meanwhile, at Yasser Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, there was no sign Tuesday that his confinement was over, despite assertions by Israel's defense minister Monday. Israeli tanks ringed the Palestinian leader's compound and troops enforced a curfew in the adjoining neighborhood. In Jerusalem, Israel's security Cabinet convened for a decision on the fate of the U.N. fact-finding mission to the Jenin camp. The Cabinet said in a statement that Israel had raised several issues with U.N. officials that it considered vital for holding a fair inquiry. "As long as these conditions have not been met, there is no possibility of beginning the inquiry," it said. Yarden Vatikai, an adviser to Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, said Israel refused to cooperate with the U.N. team because it had not received assurances that those testifying would not be prosecuted. "We agreed to this committee because we said we have nothing to hide but we are receiving something that is more like an international tribunal, something that no sovereign state could agree to," Vatikai said. Israel's defiance left the three-member fact-finding team waiting in Geneva for a third straight day. In Hebron, Israeli troops searched for wanted Palestinians and tanks surrounded Al Ahli Hospital, barring ambulances from entering or leaving, hospital officials said. The chief Israeli army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ron Kitrey, said Tuesday troops faced little Palestinian resistance in Hebron. He said among 120 Palestinians arrested in the city were close to 20 men wanted by Israel. Most of those not on the wanted list were released, he said. Also Tuesday, Israeli troops raided the village of Shawarwa, near Bethlehem, and arrested six Palestinians before withdrawing, the army said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews Last train to Nuremberg --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] 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 ==^================================================================
