I can understand Israeli reservations about the UN fact-finding mission concerning Jenin. What I can't understand is their strategy for dealing with it.

A week ago, they would welcome any inquiry, so long as it was impartial. Then they asked for a few named individuals to not be involved --- people who were on record as having prejudged the situation. Fair enough. Then they insisted on having someone with military experience. In urban situations. Then, when a retired American general with that experience was mooted as a member, one wasn't enough.

And time goes on, and the evidence of whatever happened goes cold, and the unreliable witnesses get time to get their bogus stories straight...

As I said, all the Israeli conditions are defensible, but the timing seems almost designed to fuel suspicions of anyone, even in the West, inclined to be suspicious of the Israeli account --- precisely the fence-sitters that Israel needs the mission to convince.

I don't smell a coverup here, myself, but they're being awfully dumb...