Israel would welcome UN Jenin probe
Israel today told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that it would welcome a fact-finding mission to look into Israeli military action in Jenin and other Palestinian cities, a UN spokesman said.
Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres’s phone call to Mr Annan was disclosed as the US circulated a draft Security Council resolution that would welcome the UN chief’s initiative an investigation with Israel’s cooperation.
The US has threatened to veto an Arab-backed resolution expressing shock at reports of a ‘‘massacre’’ at Jenin and requesting the secretary-general to investigate the full scope events there.
Arab nations were meeting privately to discuss the surprise US draft, which also empresses concern about the plight of Palestinian civilians.
Earlier today, US Ambassador John Negroponte said the Bush administration would not oppose ‘‘trying to find out the facts’’ of what happened in Jenin, but not through a Security Council resolution.
Mr Negroponte had also argued that the world needed action on the ground to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Jenin, not another Security Council resolution.
But with the Arabs pressing for a vote on their resolution and the Palestinian UN observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa, saying there was room for compromise, the Americans apparently changed their mind after the call from Mr Peres to Mr Annan.
‘‘He informed us that should the secretary-general send someone to look into the facts of what happened in Jenin and elsewhere, it would be welcomed,’’ UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
At a two-day open Security Council meeting, many of the 45 nations that spoke called for an investigation into the events at Jenin.
Ireland’s UN Ambassador Richard Ryan said: ‘‘Israel has the most serious questions to answer about the conduct of its operations.’’
Israel’s deputy ambassador Aaron Jacob reiterated at today’s council meeting that Israel was forced to go into Palestinian cities ‘‘to uproot the infrastructure of terror’’ and what happened in Jenin was ‘‘an intense gun battle’’ between Israeli soldiers and armed Palestinians.
‘‘The primary responsibility for the deaths lies with the terrorists,’’ he alleged.
Many of the 45 nations that spoke during the council debate said the council needed to address Israel’s defiance of its previous demands to withdraw from the West Bank cities and the plight of Palestinian civilians, especially in Jenin.
‘‘The people who went and visited the places are horrified, and the US should not appear as if it is lending support to the Israeli action in that context,’’ Egypt’s UN Ambassador Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in an interview.
The Arab draft also demands an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities, unhindered access for humanitarian workers, and an end to the siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in his Ramallah compound and Palestinian gunmen in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
It asks for the full implementation of three previous council resolutions setting out a blueprint to end the 18-month old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
