Report: Israeli Document Proposes International Force In Gaza
Many thought Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was being glib when he said in an interview last week that Jerusalem would seriously consider allowing foreign troops to take up positions in Gaza after the fighting there dies down, but a new Foreign Ministry legal document exposed by the Jerusalem Post on Sunday, suggests that his statements were followed up on.
According to the report, the ministry's legal department has drawn up a seven-page document that "presents alternative models for the establishment of an international presence or mechanism in the Gaza Strip."
The expose, penned by veteran diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon, lays out three possible models under which an international force may be deployed in the war-torn Palestinian enclave once a stable ceasefire had taken hold.
The first model speaks of a binding Security Council resolution that would give such a multinational force enforcement authority and the ability to use force in its mission to find and remove weapons and control the Strip's border crossings. Keinon notes that in the case of Gaza, "this would necessitate the agreement of the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Israel and the tacit approval of Hamas."
The second model describes a force bereft of enforcement authority that would "be primarily concerned with supervisory or reportorial roles." Such a force would be established under Chapter VI of the UN Charter and operate similarly to UNIFIL and UNDOF, the UN missions operating on Israel's borders with Lebanon and Syria respectively.
more...
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/39771-140810-report-israeli-document-proposes-international-force-in-gaza