Military

DATE=5/2/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=EGYPT / JENIN REACT (L Only)

BYLINE=JAMES MARTONE

DATELINE=CAIRO

INTRO: Officials in Egypt have expressed satisfaction that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is no longer being confined by Israeli troops. But they are upset with the decision by U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan to drop plans to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the situation at the Palestinian refugee camp at Jenin on the West Bank. James Martone reports from Cairo.

TEXT: Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher says it will take more than Mr. Arafat's release to quell mounting Arab discontent with what he calls Israel's occupation of Palestinian areas.

/// MAHER ACT ///

There will be anger as long as Israel will continue its occupation of the Palestinian territories, what we have seen is some sort of revolving door policy, the withdrawal from one place and there is an incursion into another place.

/// END ACT ///

The Cairo-based Arab League says the Israeli release of Mr. Arafat is significant. But a spokesman, Hisham Youssef, was dismayed by the decision of U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan to drop the Jenin fact-finding mission. He says it is up to the international community to insist on an investigation of the Jenin situation.

/// YOUSSEF ACT ///

The international community has to act in order for it to verify the situation on the ground, and the extent of the atrocities that were committed in the occupied territories and particularly in the Jenin camp.

/// END ACT ///

Senior Palestinian official Nabil Shaath says aborting the U-N fact-finding commission is "a sad day for justice." But he says Arabs will continue to push for an investigation into alleged Israeli wrongdoing.

/// SHAATH ACT ///

Don't you ever think that the Jenin crime will go away, it will remain haunting (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon, the way Sabra and Shatillah did, and remain haunting the Israeli government.

/// END ACT ///

A professor of political science at several Egyptian universities, Mohamed Kamal, says cancellation of the U-N fact-finding mission to Jenin will reinforce Arab views that the United Nations is under U-S influence and is biased toward Israel.

///KAMAL ACT ///

It will also revive the talk about the double standards of the U-N and U-S, meaning when Israel disregards or disrespects a U-N resolution, nothing happens to it, but when an Arab country like Iraq disregards it, it gets punished.

/// END ACT ///

The Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, says Israel's action blocking the Jenin investigation is a sign that Israel has something to hide about its attacks against the Palestinian refugee camp. (SIGNED)

NEB/JM/JWS/FC/KBK