UN fact-finders ignoring the obvious

Monday April 29, 2002 16:39

by Editorial - Chicago Sun Times, April 25th

Discusses UN bias against Israel

The United Nations appears to be on the brink of abandoning even the
pretense of trying to be fair, even-handed or objective in dealing with
Israel. The UN, which hasn't lifted a finger to probe Yasser Arafat's role
in the last year and a half of terror and death, has appointed a
"fact-finding" committee to investigate the Israeli military's operations in
Jenin. But rather than turn to military and counterterrorism experts whose
knowledge and background would enable them to accurately assess what
happened in the Jenin refugee camp, the UN loaded the committee with
political types with no experience for the job. Then UN General Secretary
Kofi Annan expanded the mission beyond fact finding, calling for the panel
to be guided by UN resolutions in producing its "conclusions." No wonder the
Israelis fear they face a kangaroo court.

The UN has never ordered a fact-finding investigation into U.S. bombing in
Afghanistan, which accidentally killed civilians, or into Russia's
aggressive campaign against Muslim guerrillas in Chechnya. (Given our 9/11
experience with Islamic terrorism, we're starting to take a more
understanding view of the Russians' struggle against their fanatical foe.)
Why is Israel being treated differently? The answer, unfortunately, is that
the UN has come to be dominated by despotic Arab nations, their allies and
European diplomats gripped by moral relativism. The result is a UN that
doesn't much like Israel and makes little attempt to disguise its feelings.
Only a week ago, the UN Human Rights Council accused Israel of human rights
violations while endorsing Palestinian terrorism. This is the same group
whose conference on racism last year was boycotted by the United States
because of its outrageous and utterly baseless claims that Israel is an
apartheid state. And the Israelis haven't forgotten the stonewalling by the
UN on what it knows about the kidnapping and presumed murders of three
Israeli soldiers along the Lebanon border two years ago. The UN for months
withheld videotapes of the scene made by UN "peacekeepers" there.

Any one interested in a comprehensive look at what happened at Jenin would
profit from reading what the Palestinians themselves have had to say about
it. The Middle East Media Research Institute has translated Arab news
accounts of the battle of Jenin complete with interviews with Palestinian
gunmen. The Palestinians openly talk about mining roads, setting explosive
booby traps in houses and having "children stationed in the houses with
explosive belts at their sides." One Islamic Jihad bomb maker boasts that
the Palestinians "had more than 50 houses booby-trapped around the camp" and
"lured" Israelis into an ambush when "the women went out to tell the
soldiers that we had run out of bullets and were leaving." Another account
revealed that the Islamic Jihad commander in Jenin prevented civilians from
leaving the camp.

These are things that the Israelis, quite naturally, want any UN
fact-finders to look into. Here's one question the Israelis also would like
to see answered: How did it come to be that a terror operation was organized
and run in a UN refugee camp? Actually, the Israelis are asking too little.
They should insist that any investigation of Israel's incursion into the
West Bank look at the treasure trove of evidence and documents uncovered
that directly link Arafat, his top lieutenants and the Palestinian Authority
to the suicide bombings and other terrorism of the last 18 months.