Annan Urges Foreign Force to Help Halt Mideast Battle
The secretary general said the United Nations, with about 12,000 relief workers in the Palestinian camps and settlements, had been getting reports that Israelis had violated the codes of conduct in war.

"The Red Cross is there, and other agencies," he said. "So we get a lot of reports. That is why I am very worried."

For example Peter Hansen, who administers Palestinian programs through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, has sent increasingly anguished reports to United Nations headquarters. United Nations employees have frequently been caught in the fighting or been blocked from doing their jobs.

In his speech to the Human Rights Commission, Mr. Annan warned against subverting human rights in wars waged in the name of fighting terrorism. He also admonished those who carry out terrorist acts.

"Moral clarity and intellectual accuracy are needed in every judgment on the use of force by states," he said. "But the same must apply when we judge the action of armed resistance movements. The killing of innocent civilians violates international law and undermines the legitimacy of the cause it purports to serve."

Speaking hours before the latest suicide bombing in Israel, he called such attacks "as indiscriminate and morally repugnant as they are politically harmful."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/international/middleeast/13NATI.html