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Israel Refused Cooperation With UN Mission Into Jenin
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| Peres and Sharon at the Israeli Cabinet meeting. |
JERUSALEM, April 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The Israeli cabinet voted Sunday to refuse cooperation with a UN fact-finding mission, charged with visiting the devastated Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin, and warned it would try to block any visit by the team, Israeli army radio said.
The vote came after a marathon cabinet meeting to discuss whether to give the green light to the UN mission, despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal of a 24-hour delay on any decision.
Earlier Sunday, Sharon proposed a 24-hour delay for a decision on whether to allow the UN mission to visit the camp in Jenin, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The Israeli Radio quoted Sharon as saying that Israel was not yet satisfied with UN answers to its questions about the terms of the mission, which is waiting in Geneva for Israel's green light to visit.
In Geneva, meanwhile, an airport source said the UN mission’s scheduled flight departure from Geneva was canceled, no more bookings were expected Sunday.
The Swiss government aircraft which the mission is due to use was booked for a departure from Geneva's Cointrin airport at 3:00pm (1300 GMT). "It was cancelled for today, completely," the source said, AFP reported.
The mission, led by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, was gathered at the UN's European headquarters in Geneva and was awaiting a green light from the UN in New York following an Israeli cabinet meeting.
The Geneva airport source said a departure slot could be established for the mission at short notice but that nothing had been booked for the moment.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government accepted an offer by U.S. President George W. Bush for U.S. or British guards to take charge of men convicted by Palestinian court for the killing of an Israeli tourism minister.
Israel demanded the four Palestinian men, convicted of killing an Israeli tourism minister last year in retaliation for an Israeli assassination of a prominent Palestinian political leader, be extradited to Israel to face charges there.
For it part, the Palestinian Authority refused the extradition demand on the grounds that Israel refused to extradite to the Occupied Territories Israelis found to be guilty of slaying Palestinians.
The men have been holed up in Yasser Arafat's besieged Ramallah base, which Israeli forces attacked almost four weeks ago, holding Arafat prisoner in his headquarters, as well as denying aid workers and media officials from entering the compound to deliver supplies and report on the situation in the beleaguered compound.
During the cabinet meeting Sunday, Israel's army chief of staff, General Shaul Mofaz, and chief of planning, Major General Giora Eiland, said they were both resolutely opposed to the visit of the UN fact-finding team, Israel radio reported.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was more positive but insisted Israel was not ready to give the UN team carte blanche to interview whomever it wanted. "Israel cannot accept the demand by the United Nations mission to decide which military people it will question," Peres told Israeli military radio.
The UN fact-finding team has been beefed up by security advisers at Israel's request after Israeli officials alleged its members lacked military expertise.
Israel wants the mission's mandate to be limited to events in Jenin and seeks immunity to prosecution for its soldiers.
Israel’s refusal to cooperate with the team dubs its members to be regarded as "welcome tourists," Sharon adviser Zalman Shoval said. Israel could also prevent the commission from entering the camp if it wanted, he added.
The controversy over Jenin raged since the end of the aggressive Israeli military offensive there on April 12. Hundreds of civilians were brutally massacred at the camp.
On another diplomatic front, Israeli political sources said U.S. President George W. Bush proposed a deal that could end Israel's month-long siege of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank City of Ramallah.
Bush suggested to Sharon in a telephone call Friday, April 26, that U.S. or British guards act as jailers inside a Palestinian prison for the killers of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, the sources said.
Israel demanded their extradition as a condition for letting Arafat go. An ad hoc Palestinian court in Arafat's besieged compound Thursday convicted four men of killing Zeevi in October 2001 in retaliation for the assassination of their resistance leader Abu Ali Mustapha, and sentenced them to terms ranging from one to 18 years.
Israeli occupation forces had launched a massive military operation in Palestinian cities in the West Bank after reoccupying it on March 29.
The Israeli incursions lasted more than three weeks and led to the killings of hundreds of civilians, the complete destruction of several areas and the abduction of more than 1,500 Palestinians.
Israeli forces remain in Ramallah, where soldiers and tanks surround Arafat’s besieged offices, and in Bethlehem, about 200 Palestinians and over 30 priests are trapped inside the Church of the Nativity.
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