U.N. Chief Will Not Probe Arab Deaths in Israel

UNITED NATIONS —  After nearly a week of intense, behind-the-scenes negotiations, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar told the Security Council on Friday that he cannot, under present circumstances, send a mission to Israel to investigate the killing of 21 Palestinians in Jerusalem last week.

But even as Perez de Cuellar said he could not fulfill the council’s mandate that a mission be dispatched, he firmly rejected suggestions by Israeli diplomats that his report be based largely on the results of an independent Israeli commission of inquiry into the Oct. 8 violence on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

The Security Council, which voted unanimously Oct. 12 to condemn Israel for the violence and to empower the secretary general to conduct an investigation, late Friday was considering what its response should be.

Some nonaligned nations were circulating a draft resolution asking the council to declare that it deplores Israel’s refusal to accept the U.N. mission. The resolution also urges the government of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to reconsider its decision.

But other nations were lobbying for a less binding statement of concern by the council’s president, British Ambassador David Hannay.

After the council had adjourned until Monday, Hannay said there was a great deal of “common ground” in discussions among its members.

“There was deep regret that the Israeli government had taken the attitude that it was not ready to receive the mission,” he said. “There was the feeling that the council should not take ‘no’ for an answer and should express a clear wish that the Israeli government should think again about this matter.

“This report should not be delayed or set aside or undermined in any way,” he added.

U.S. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, speaking after the council briefing Friday, noted that Perez de Cuellar has until the end of the month to present his report.

“There is some time, obviously, to deal with this question,” Pickering said. “We hope it is going to be dealt with constructively. . . . “

Some members of the council said the secretary general was passionate when he reported on Israel’s refusal to accept his mission. But when he met journalists outside the council’s chambers, Perez de Cuellar was measured in his language.

“I told them (the members of the council) what I had heard from the distinguished ambassador from Israel, that they are not prepared to receive the mission,” he said. “ . . . As you know, I cannot send the mission if I am not persuaded that the mission will get all the necessary facilities to complete the mission.”

Perez de Cuellar stressed that he is not prepared to base his report on the independent Israeli commission of inquiry, which could issue preliminary findings as early as this weekend.

“What I have to do is present to the council an independent report,” he said. “Of course, I cannot make a report on the basis of a report of the Israeli team. . . . How can I present as my report a report that is not my report?”

In an effort to break the deadlock, some Israeli diplomats had suggested privately that a high government envoy could be sent to the United Nations to brief Perez de Cuellar on the independent commission’s conclusion, or that the secretary general could send his own envoy to Jerusalem to receive the report.

But Perez de Cuellar made it clear that he still wishes to send a full-fledged mission and said that behind-the-scenes efforts were still under way by several countries to achieve a compromise.

Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Johanan Bein, was at home because of the approaching Jewish Sabbath when the secretary general briefed the Security Council late in the afternoon.

But Bein charged later that the current emphasis on the killings in Jerusalem was designed by the Palestine Liberation Organization to move the council away from its concentration on Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

Similarly, the Bush Administration believes the Temple Mount incident and Israel’s refusal to accept blame for charges of excessive force have diverted attention from Iraq’s aggression at a time when Washington is moving toward new sanctions against President Saddam Hussein.

The Israeli forces killed the 21 Palestinians after a crowd stoned Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall, injuring 22. About 150 Palestinians were also injured in the incident.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III took pains earlier in the week to warn Israel that Shamir’s refusal to cooperate with the U.N. mission both was hurting the campaign against Iraq and threatening to push Israel into the same category as Iraq--as nations defying Security Council resolutions.

In private conversations, some Israeli diplomats at the United Nations said they were concerned days before the council began consultations on Friday that new condemnations could stretch ahead.

Pickering said he felt it would be a constructive move if Perez de Cuellar allows Israel to transmit to him the independent commission’s report.

“Obviously, the secretary general should receive information from all sides on what’s going on and what’s happened, and a report put together by the Israeli government would, in our view, constitute such information,” he said.

But other Western ambassadors were more pointed in their remarks about Israel. For one, the Canadian government is not happy with the decision taken by the Shamir Cabinet, said Canada’s ambassador, Yves Fortier.

“Member states should facilitate the work of the council, the work of the secretary general. And it is most unfortunate that (Israel) has chosen not to welcome the mission of the secretary general,” he said. “Our displeasure is going to be conveyed multilaterally here in what is found to be the most appropriate way.”