Palestinians call for UN monitors on borderPDFPrintE-mail
Israel
Written by Chris Perver  
Wednesday, 08 November 2006 17:00
The similarities between the conflict with Hizbullah and this latest conflict with Palestinian terrorist organizations continues, as Palestinians call on the United Nations to intervene after the deaths in Beit Hanoun. Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour called on the body to press for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, station peace keepers along the border and negotiate a cease fire. 

Quote: "The Israeli occupying forces have committed another massacre this morning in Beit Hanoun," Mansour said. "The Security Council has to react and to react immediately in order to stop this aggression and these crimes against the Palestinian people." According to Mansour, the Palestinians demand that the Security Council calls on Israel to immediately withdraw from Gaza, to agree to the presence of international observers at the border with Gaza, and to reach a ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian government.

With Lebanon, a UN peace keeping force was already stationed in the region, so an expansion of the UNIFIL force was seen as a natural consequence of the war between Israel and Hizbullah. But in Gaza, the European Union has been the main organization dealing with the Israelis and Palestinians, as we have seen with the Rafah border and in training the Palestinian Authority police force. Whether the international community responds to this incident in Beit Hanoun or not I cannot tell, but an incident such as this provides the perfect pretext for some sort of external peace keeping force to intervene in the conflict, as predicted (and here).

Quote: ""The idea of sending UN troops to the Gaza Strip is currently being aired. But I think that if things go well in Lebanon, a similar positive process could also begin in the Gaza Strip: the release of [kidnapped soldier Gilad] Shalit, a Palestinian unity government that meets the criteria set by the international community, and the presence of a UN force to bolster the Palestinian government."

Source YNet News, International Herald Tribune

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