Annan calls off U.N. fact-finding mission to Jenin refugee camp

UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan abandoned efforts Wednesday to send a fact-finding mission to the Jenin refugee camp after Israel first gave a green light and then said the mission was biased.

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, Annan said the team would be disbanded on Thursday.

Annan initially appointed the three-member team of fact-finders April 19 with the assurance of Israeli cooperation, but then ran into Israeli objections over the group's composition and mandate.

After Israel's security Cabinet announced that it couldn't accept the team without a major overhaul, the secretary-general told the council, "It seems evident that the team will not be able to proceed to the area to begin its mission in the near future."

Annan said he regrets not being able to provide information requested by the council on the Israeli attack, "and especially that the long shadow cast by recent events in the Jenin refugee camp will remain in the absence of such a fact-finding exercise."

The secretary-general also noted that time was "a critical factor."

"With the situation in the Jenin refugee camp changing by the day, it will become more and more difficult to establish with any confidence or accuracy the 'recent events' that took place there," he said. "For these reasons, it is my intention to disband the fact-finding team tomorrow," he said Wednesday.

The Palestinians accuse the Israeli army of a massacre of civilians during eight days of fighting that left part of the Jenin camp in rubble. Israel says its army fought intense gunbattles with Palestinian gunmen, who were the main victims, stressing that 26 suicide bombers came from Jenin.

Arab nations were demanding a vote Wednesday night on a draft resolution that demands Israel immediately receive the fact-finding team. If it is not received, the draft would authorize the council to act under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter which allows the use of military force.

A resolution in this form would almost certainly be vetoed by the United States, Israel's closest ally.