U.N. pushing for Jenin fact-finding mission

A Palestinian boy picks through the rubble of a house in the Jenin refugee camp.

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. officials expressed disappointment Monday that the Israeli Cabinet had again postponed a meeting on cooperating with a U.N. fact-finding mission to the Jenin refugee camp, but indicated they were content to wait for Israel to act.

"We don't see any insurmountable obstacles, but it is up to Israel to reply," said U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard.

The U.N. Security Council -- so far thwarted in its effort to get the fact-finding team to the Jenin refugee camp -- will get another briefing Monday afternoon on efforts to get Israel to cooperate with the mission.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday there was an urgent need for the team to get to work. But in Jerusalem, the Israeli Cabinet put off a meeting on the issue for the third time.

The team -- appointed by Annan to determine what happened at the camp -- remained in Geneva, Switzerland.

The council will be briefed by Kieran Prendergast, Annan's top political adviser, and then debate what to do next.

Palestinians say Israel carried out a massacre at the Jenin camp and killed 500 residents during its military operations in the West Bank. The Palestinian estimates have not been independently corroborated.

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Israel says "dozens not hundreds" were killed in intense fighting as troops attempted to clear out "the fountainhead of suicide bombers." Israel says it lost 23 soldiers, 13 in one incident.

Aid agency officials told CNN Sunday that 52 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of the camp.

Figures compiled by aid agencies show 140 homes were destroyed out of 1,896 in the camp with another 200 more damaged. One-quarter of the camp's population of 13,000 was made homeless.

Israel launched military operations in late March against the "terrorist infrastructure" in the West Bank after a wave of terror attacks against Israelis, including a suicide bombing on the first night of Passover.

"We are clarifying issues and we are expecting we should be able to work out our differences," Annan said on his arrival at U.N. headquarters. "I think at this stage it is very urgent that we go in find out what happened and put all the rumors and accusations behind us."

Dore Gold, a key adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, told CNN Monday the fact-finding mission's mandate must be clarified.

"Any time you send a U.N. team, an investigative team, a fact-finding team, to any region in the world, it has to be guided by mandate, terms of reference, what it is being sent for," Gold said.

"Now if you have a team that is coming here and the terms of reference doesn't specifically state, 'We are here to find out what went on in Jenin,' this could be an opening to all kinds of other U.N. activity that goes beyond our understanding how the peace process is constructed," he said.

Among Israel's objections, diplomats said, are what subpoena powers the mission would have. Israel also wants two advisers on military and police actions made full members of the panel.

Council members indicated they weren't happy with Israel's delay but had decided Sunday to postpone any action until after Israel's Cabinet took up the issue.

An Israeli team sent to New York to negotiate with U.N. officials returned to Israel Monday, leaving discussions to Annan and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

While Prendergast, undersecretary-general for political affairs, told the council Sunday that Annan was considering sending the team without Israeli approval, his spokesman downplayed that idea Monday.

"It would probably not be very productive to go to Israel and sit at the airport because you don't have visas or make it to a hotel but not be able to get out of the hotel to go where you need to go to do your job," the spokesman said.

"This fact-finding mission, if it's to be done right and that means on the scene, needs the cooperation of the Israelis and the Palestinians and that's what we're hoping to get."

Arab states are pushing for a resolution that would demand Israeli acceptance of the team.

The U.N. also named more support staff for the fact-finding mission. Two new military aides include Col. Miles Wade from Britain and Francois Xavier Thomas, a French army planning specialist.

Two new aides were named for team police adviser Peter Fitzgerald. They are Inspector Patrick Leahy of the Irish police who worked in U.N. operations in Bosnia, Cambodia and Namibia.

Dermot Jennings of Ireland, who has "extensive experience in counter terrorism" was also named to the team. And Dr. Helena Ranta, a forensic expert, will be joined by three assistants.