Annan asks Israelis to punish UN man’s killers
TEL AVIV, Nov 30: Israel faced a new row with the United Nations on Saturday over a demand that Israeli troops be punished for killing a UN worker during a clash last week.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote to Prime Minister Sharon, saying he “expected Israel to carry out a rigorous investigation of the incident, share its results with the United Nations and hold accountable those responsible”, a UN spokesman said on Friday.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said a probe into British aid worker Iain Hook’s killing in the West Bank city of Jenin was likely to end within the next few days.
“Based on the conclusions of the inquiry, the prime minister will begin working on a reply” to Annan, the spokesman said.
Israel has said a preliminary inquiry showed that Hook was killed by mistake, when troops took aim at men shooting from inside the compound of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). U.N. officials said there were no gunmen inside the building.
ARREST: Israeli forces arrested on Saturday a long-sought commander of a militant group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after it announced it mounted an attack on an Israeli polling booth that killed six people on Thursday.
Troops also shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the Gaza Strip, close to its heavily-fortified border with Israel, Palestinian sources said.
The arrest of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades commander Majid al-Masri near the West Bank city of Nablus followed a renewed pledge by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to hunt down those blamed for attacks on Israelis at home and abroad.
Palestinian sources said troops caught Masri, the Brigades leader in Nablus and other northern West Bank cities, and his assistant in a safe house.
“He told me by telephone that the Israelis were breaking down his door and then the line went dead,” a Brigades source said.
The militant also acted as a spokesman for the group and previously served as a Palestinian police officer.
Israel has captured or killed dozens of Palestinian militant leaders it says planned shootings and bombings. Masri’s predecessor was arrested nearly nine months ago.
An Israeli army spokesman said 18 suspected militants were also rounded up in West Bank swoops on Saturday.
In Gaza, troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager near the Karni border crossing, Palestinian hospital officials said.
An Israeli military source said troops had fired warning shots when a group of Palestinians approached the border fence and that the army was investigating the reported death. —Reuters