Israel to Reject UN Investigation Into Jenin Refugee Camp

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 24, 2002

Israel to Reject UN Investigation Into Jenin Refugee Camp

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided Tuesday night to halt agreement to the arrival of UN fact-finding mission on Jenin refugee camp, Israel radio reported.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided Tuesday night to halt agreement to the arrival of UN fact-finding mission on Jenin refugee camp, Israel radio reported.

The decision was reportedly made after a deliberation by the prime minister.

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 huge 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.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Commentary: People Who Trample on Human Rights Should Be Condemned

>> Full Coverage

Protests Prompt Retailer to Pull T-shirts Mocking Chinese-Americans ( 35 Messages)

Ins and Outs of a Young American's Roguery on Bus in China ( 142 Messages)

FM Spokeswoman: US Has Clarified its Stance on Taiwan Issue ( 21 Messages)

China's Economy to Grow Above Six Percent ( 29 Messages)

China Expresses Strong Dissatisfaction over Japanese PM's Shrine Visit ( 6 Messages)