A divided UN Security Council is today considering whether to request a scaled-down report on Israel's assault on the Jenin refugee camp, after Israel refused to cooperate with a full fact-finding mission.
In the letter, the council would ask Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan to collate all available information regarding recent events at the West Bank Palestinian camp with a view to producing, as far as possible, an accurate, thorough, balanced and credible report.
Experts from the council's 15 member-nations were today reviewing the letter which was drafted by the council president for May, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, but it was unclear how the body would proceed.
Palestinians accused the Israeli army of a massacre during eight days of fierce house-to-house fighting. Israel denied the allegation and said it was rooting out a terrorist network.
Fifty-two people were confirmed killed in the camp, but Palestinian doctors said many civilians may have been killed, including in homes razed by bulldozers during fighting. Israel said the Palestinian death toll estimates were exaggerated.
The council was thrown into disarray after Mr Annan announced he would disband the 20-member team, waiting in Geneva, due to mounting Israeli conditions for the mission that Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon's Cabinet believed was biased against the Jewish state.
Seeking to capitalise on anger among council members at Israel's rejection of a mission it had initially welcomed, Arab delegates had tried to push through a resolution telling Mr Annan to go ahead with the operation and demanding Israel co-operate.