Friday, April 26, 2002

Israel Raids West Bank City Despite Bush Call
Israel asked the U.N. to delay its investigation of Jenin refugee camp and sent troops back into a Palestinian city Friday, defying President Bush's latest call for an end to its offensive.
A Palestinian official said Israel's demand showed it had something to hide and urged the United Nations to get tough.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had insisted a fact-finding team arrive by Saturday to look into what happened during Israel's three-week assault on the West Bank camp. Israel denies Palestinian charges that troops committed a massacre there.

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said Israel had asked that the U.N. team ``be held back until the points of dispute are discussed and settled.''

Israel had initially accepted the mission, then threatened to block it, apparently fearing its work would add to a worldwide outcry at the devastation in the camp, scene of the fiercest fighting of the West Bank offensive.

In Ramallah, soldiers fired teargas and threw stun grenades to halt several hundred demonstrators -- Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and foreign peace activists -- who marched toward Arafat's battered compound to demand his release. One person was taken to hospital after a stun grenade hit him in the head.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html?todaysheadlines&pagewanted=all

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