With apparent American acquies-ence, Israel has seen off an international effort to examine its army's behaviour at the Jenin refugee camp during the invasion of the Palestinian territories last month. On May 1st Kofi Annan, the UN'S secretary-general, announced that he was disbanding the fact-finding team he had set up, because of Israel's reversal of its earlier decision to co-operate. "The long shadow cast by recent events in the Jenin refugee camp will remain," he said. Israel still insisted that it had nothing to hide from an inquiry, despite the natural inference from its recalcitrance that it does. Ministers said they feared the "politicisa-tion" of the process, which could result in individual soldiers or politicians being arraigned before an international court. And Israel's old dread of the conflict being "internationalised" is widely heard.
展开▼
