Reuters
U.N. still waiting for Israeli 'rocket' apology
Date: Monday November 1
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations is still waiting for Israel to apologise for an erroneous allegation that Palestinian militants used a U.N. ambulance to transport a rocket, a senior U.N. official says.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, an aid agency active in the West Bank and Gaza, had hoped for "a fresh start" in long-strained relations with the Jewish state after the charge was found to have no basis.
But Israeli officials instead quickly resumed criticizing the agency behind its back, UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen told reporters on Monday.
The initial Israeli accusation, based on blurry black-and-white video footage filmed by an Israeli military drone, was made in early October as Israeli forces carried out an offensive in the Gaza Strip against missile launches targeting Israeli border towns.
Hansen at the time said the allegation endangered UNRWA staff working in the Palestinian territories by encouraging Israeli troops to think U.N. vehicles were "transporting terrorists and weapons."
"I asked for an apology. I never got one, and I am still waiting for one, although not with bated breath," Hansen said. He was speaking with reporters during a visit to New York to address the 191-nation U.N. General Assembly.
A U.N. investigation concluded that the object identified by Israel as a Palestinian Qassam rocket was in fact a stretcher, a finding Israel did not dispute.
But within days, he heard from other governments -- which he did not identify -- that the Israeli government was making the rounds with a private briefing spelling out 29 additional allegations of UNRWA wrongdoing, he said.
UNRWA had responses to all 29 allegations but had never been informed of the charges directly by Israel, he said.
The recent incidents were only the latest in dozens of cases in which Israel levelled charges against his agency that ultimately were found to be without foundation, he said.
SOURCE
Search Yahoo for original story (if it's a story from Yahoo) if they've since changed it from the one I linked to (this happens quite a bit lately and I don't have the time anymore to hunt the original story down) :
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