Israel bans UN fact-finding team

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s cabinet today banned a UN fact-finding mission into the battle at the Jenin refugee camp.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s cabinet today approved a US proposal aimed at ending the month-old Israeli siege at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s compound in Ramallah - but banned a UN fact-finding mission into the battle at the Jenin refugee camp.

After a lengthy debate, the Cabinet declared that the make-up and the procedures set down for the Jenin inquiry were unacceptable.

Arnon Perlman, a spokesman for Sharon, said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres spoke to the head of the team and ‘‘informed him that the arrival of the committee will be delayed until further clarifications about current issues’’.

The mission is to look into a bloody eight-day battle at the Jenin camp, where at least 50 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers died.

Palestinians claim Israel massacred civilians.

Israel today said it objects to the composition of the team and its planned scope of activities.

The cabinet approved a statement by Sharon that ‘‘conditions have not yet been created which would make it possible to accept the fact-finding committee’’ into the Jenin battle, effectively banning it from the region.

Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin said that the UN inquiry ‘‘is out to get us and is likely to smear Israel’’.

The three-person team has been delayed due to disagreements between Israel and the UN over the scope of the commission’s work. The team was waiting in Geneva, Switzerland, for the Israeli decision before deciding what to do.

Israel pushed for military and anti-terrorism experts to be included on the team, without success.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had included retired US Major General William Nash as a military adviser, but not as a full member of the team, which is headed by former Finnish president Martti Athisaari.

While Israel originally agreed to cooperate with the team, it has expressed concern that its composition and agenda are intended from the outset to find fault with Israel.

‘‘Israel won’t sit in the place of the accused,’’ Peres said. ‘‘Israel will sit in the place of the accuser. This is an attempt to place baseless blame, almost a blood libel, on Israel.’’

Palestinian cabinet minister Hassan Asfour said the UN should ‘‘not comply with the Israeli stalling tactics and to send the fact-finding team to the occupied Palestinian territories promptly.’’

The main sticking points are Israel’s request that it be allowed to decide which Israelis will testify, and that the team will not investigate Israel’s military operations beyond the events in the Jenin refugee camp, Peres said.

Meanwhile Sharon has been invited to Washington next week for talks with US President George W Bush.

The US plan for Arafat’s office calls for US and British personnel to guard six Palestinians wanted by Israel. In turn, Arafat would be allowed to leave his compound and move freely in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli source said.

President Bush raised the proposal on Saturday in a telephone conversation with Sharon, and an official letter outlining it was sent by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to Israel.

If the Palestinians accept the plan, it could end the long-running stand-off at the shell-shattered compound.

Arafat has been confined to the compound since early December, aside from a few brief trips into Ramallah. He has not been able to leave his office building in the centre of the compound since March 29, the first day of Israel’s military incursion into the West Bank.

Israeli forces entered Palestinian cities in the West Bank on March 29 following a string of suicide bombings in Israel. The incursion lasted more than three weeks and involved heavy fighting in several areas, and arrest sweeps that have taken more than 1,500 Palestinians into custody.

Israel has pulled its troops out of the cities except for Ramallah, where the soldiers surround Arafat’s offices, and in Bethlehem, where Palestinian gunmen have been holed up inside the Church of the Nativity since April 2, with Israeli troops encircling the shine.

Israeli and Palestinian officials met today in Bethlehem and planned another session later, the Israeli military said. A statement said several new ideas were raised and the talks were adjourned for consultations. No details were given.