BRUSSELS, 29 February 2004 — Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei called yesterday for international forces to keep the peace between Israelis and Palestinians if Israel withdraws from Gaza, to restore confidence as Palestinians take control.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced this month he would remove most Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip, which Israel seized with the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. Sharon did not say when.
“If the Israelis withdraw (from Gaza) I think we will be able to run the areas that they withdraw from,” he said in the European Parliament on a visit to Brussels.
“What we want from you, we want your support to rebuild our security...I think we need international forces or peacekeeping forces at that time. This will help,” he said.
Qorei reacted positively to a suggestion by one deputy in Parliament that peacekeepers should come from the United States and the European Union, agreeing that US troops would be popular in Israel while Palestinians would respect EU troops.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, after meeting Qorei yesterday, said the bloc would consider sending troops. “We will be open to discuss any possibility, including the one you mentioned,” he said when asked by Reuters about the EU contributing to a peacekeeping force. Solana said the EU wanted a withdrawal to be carried out in consultation with the Palestinian Authority; that settlements dismantled in Gaza not be rebuilt in the West Bank; and that whatever happened should be in line with a US- and EU-backed road map for Middle East peace.
Qorei gave cautious approval to Sharon’s proposed withdrawal but insisted any peace settlement be part of an established US-backed road map for Middle East peace.
“Of course we will not say ‘no you should stay there’. We will welcome this step, but we want it to be part of the deal, not the deal,” he said. “We want it to be on the basis of the road map.”
Israeli officials have voiced concern that Palestinian group Hamas, sworn to wiping out Israel, could seize Gaza and increase attacks if settlers withdrew under Sharon’s plan to “disengage” from conflict with Palestinians.
Qorei warned of tensions between democratic, secular Palestinians and others with what he called “an extremist agenda,” making the presence of international peacekeepers vital if Israel withdrew.
“We are not fighting each other, but we are competing with each other in a democratic way. If this situation continues then the democratic secular program will fail and the extremists will win,” he said.
“I believe that this is the time for the world to decide to send peacekeeping forces, international forces to separate between the Palestinians and Israelis,” he said. He added that if Israel withdrew from Gaza, troops would be essential to make Israelis feel secure.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s security adviser, Jibril Al-Rajoub, said yesterday the Palestinian Authority would not let Hamas seize Gaza if Israel pulled out and had been reassured by the group that it would not try to do so.
