Tragedy at Jenin, says US envoy

A US envoy to the Middle East has described the devastation at the Jenin refugee camp as a "tragedy for thousands of innocent Palestinian people".
US Undersecretary of State William Burns on Saturday toured the camp which has been the scene of recent heavy fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.

Late on Saturday, the Israeli army said tanks and armored vehicles had began pulling out of parts of the West Bank city of Ramallah, with the exception of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's besieged headquarters.

Israel has said it will co-operate fully with a United Nations fact-finding team which is to look into what happened in Jenin.

The Palestinians have accused Israel of committing a massacre at the camp; Israel has denied the allegation, saying those who died were mainly armed fighters.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that "Israel has nothing to hide regarding the operation in Jenin."

The Palestinians have welcomed the UN mission as a step forward, but insisted that an international peacekeeping force should be sent too.