U.N. May Drop Inquiry at Jenin as Israel Resists
Israeli officials said they preferred the short-term cost in world opinion of resisting the United Nations to the long-term risk of possibly exposing the army to war-crimes trials in what they feared would be a biased investigation.

As Palestinian officials charged a cover-up, Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, a former general who has fought in all of Israel's wars, invoked his own service as a soldier in declaring that he would protect Israel's troops now.

"No effort to doubt us or put us on an international trial will prevail," Mr. Sharon declared.

He rejected Palestinian accusations that war crimes were committed in Jenin, saying, "We made extraordinary efforts not to harm innocent people."

To Mr. Sharon and other senior Israeli officials, the United Nations inquiry is a case of selective investigation, to be followed, they fear, by spurious prosecution. Why, they ask, does the United Nations show no interest in investigating suicide bombings that have killed Israelis? Why does it show no interest in investigating Israel's charges of ties between Yasir Arafat and terrorism?

Supporters of the inquiry, on the other hand, marveled that the United Nations had so far been stymied in its attempt to work inside a refugee camp that is overseen by one of its own agencies, within occupied West Bank territory that by treaty is controlled by the governing Palestinian Authority.

The United States originated the United Nations resolution that set up the fact-finding mission in mid-April, and gave the inquiry aggressive backing last week. But today, in yet another shift by Washington, the Bush administration offered little more than the wan observation that it could do nothing if Mr. Annan dropped the inquiry.

Today, the group Physicians for Human Rights issued a preliminary forensic assessment of the camp's dead and wounded, raising concerns about the shooting of civilians and blocked access to medical care and calling for an international investigation.

Mr. Prendergast, the United Nations official, said that "with every passing day it becomes more difficult to determine what took place on the ground in Jenin."

After meeting today, Israel's security cabinet, led by Mr. Sharon, issued a statement saying the United Nations had failed to adjust the mission to accommodate Israel's concerns. "As long as these terms have not been met, it will not be possible for the clarification process to begin," the statement read.

Mr. Annan said he had met Israel's concerns.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/01/international/middleeast/01MIDE.html