Requiring Relevant Items, Israel Welcomes Connor ReportIsrael welcomed the outcome of Connor Report on a controversial videotape that may relate to last year's kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah, a ranking Israeli diplomat said Friday."We would like to express our satisfaction about the conclusion of the Connor Report," Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry told reporters at the U.N. headquarters after Joseph Connor, Under- Secretary-General for Management, briefed the press on his just- released report on the controversial videotape issue. "We consider the works of the commission have been done in a serious way," he said. "From Israeli point of view, we welcome the report and we would like to express our gratitude to Mr. Secretary- General Kofi Annan ... for his readiness to allow Israel to have access to the items that are now in the hands of U.N. headquarters in New York." A fact-finding panel led by U.N. Under-Secretary-General Joseph Connor concludes that the world body did not deliberately mislead the Israeli Government and the United Nations did not find any videotape of the actual abduction. The report blamed the delay in informing the Israeli authorities of the existence of the videotape to inadequate internal communications and poor judgment. |
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