Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

UN, Israel Disagree Over Massacre Investigation

Aired April 29, 2002 - 09:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to the Middle East, where a UN fact-finding mission to Jenin remains on hold this morning. As the cleanup continues to get underway in the West Bank town, Israeli and the UN are still at odds over the terms of the investigation. Palestinians claim Israeli soldiers carried out a massacre in Jenin, a charge that is Israeli say is simply not true.

The UN Security Council has been meeting about this situation in Jenin, and for the very latest on that, let's turn to CNN's Richard Roth, who joins us from the UN.

Good morning -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

The Security Council met late Sunday evening, saying it wasn't happy with Israel's latest request for a postponement in the arrival of that Jenin fact-finding team. The UN Security Council remains poised to demand that Israel comply and cooperate with this panel. Secretary General Kofi Annan has spoken with Israeli officials, and he's not ready to give up, as he indicated in an interview we just conducted with him moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, SECRETARY GENERAL: They indicated the Cabinet had a rather heavy agenda yesterday, including the discussion on the release of Israel and the prisoners, and the financial issue, and they didn't have enough time to devote to the issue of the team. And they were meeting, again, this morning. And I hope they will take the right decision and the team can continue with this work.

As you know, they sent a very able team here from Israel, and we have very constructive and useful discussions. And we've clarified some of the issues of consent to them, and I did gave a letter to the Israeli government and also to the Palestinian Authority indicating precisely how the team is going to approach this work. I think, at this stage, it's very urgent that we go in, find out what happened, and put all the rumors and accusations behind us. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Kofi Annan clarifying the issues with both the Palestinians and the Israelis as to the scope of this mission, where it will go and what kind of access it will have. The talks go on -- Paula.

ZAHN: So what is the speculation there, Richard? Will it arrive at some sort of compromise here so this team can go into Jenin in the next 24 hours?

ROTH: There's a large -- Paula, there's a large amount of frustration and anxiety inside the Security Council. Many diplomats feel enough stalling by Israel. And some are saying that Kofi Annan should send this team to the Middle East anyway, with or without Israel's cooperation.

ZAHN: All right, Richard Roth, thank you for those insights.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com