An international force in Gaza is long overdue

[bemildred]

The unrelenting violence between Palestinians and the Israeli military makes imperative the formation of an international peacekeeping force to police the border between Israel and Gaza. Such a force could not only put a stop to the deadly attacks on civilians from both sides, but could also signal the start of wider agreements between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The establishment of such a force has been requested several times by Palestinian leaders in order to protect civilians from various acts of violence carried out by the Israeli military. Palestinians have reacted to Israeli military attacks with violent actions of their own, thus creating a vicious circle that needs to be broken once and for all if peace is to be attained between the two sides.

There have been several requests for the creation of such a force. During the October 2000 peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Palestinian negotiators demanded that the United Nations send a peacekeeping force to help put an end to the bloody conflict between Israeli troops and the Palestinians. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak flatly rejected that proposal.

Daily Star

[pelsar]

1. or will they be the new human shields?

who really believes that they will actually go after islamic jihad? Hamas (arent they the govt?)..if they so easily kill their "brothers" i doubt they will have trouble "kidnapping and killing infidles" who dare confront them.

but israel will obviously will have trouble killing the rocket shooters....as they will be fired from next to UN posts.....which means the obvious:....ok to shoot rockets at sederot...........right?

[bemildred]

2. Well, I admit I thought this guy was a bit optimistic.

On the other hand, if it's such a good idea in S. Lebanon, then why not in Gaza?

[pelsar]

3. lebanon vs gaza....

Hizballa is a disciplined force......they have a command structure etc...Gaza is the exact opposite-chaos with guns.

So if in Lebanon the commanders of Hizballa tell their troops to stay low and dont shoot...they wont...At this point it seems they'll have to shoot through the Lebanese army which would obviously cause them much damage in lebanon.

Gaza....i'm sure islamic jihad would have no problem shooting through UN personal, PA or any other local that gets in their way...which is probably exactly what iran wants (their mentor)

[bemildred]

4. So, we should strengthen Hamas so it can control things better? nt

[pelsar]

5. thats one idea.....

help a facist god gave us the power party so they can better control their people and put them under their own version of the taliban....

hell if i know what to do down there......

seriously.....i really have no idea i think the palestenians have really got themselves a really mess (i'm using politically correct language)....having so many armed groups, some being financed by other countries, others via smuggling, others by local shakedowns.....

whats most interesting is the lack of info on the internet..the bloggers from gaza dont do much talking about it, what info i get is mainly israeli TV (arab/israeli reporters and the "arab desk")

poor avg achmed palestenian of gaza.....life keeps getting worse and worse and worse....