From: The AustralianMay 21, 2010A HUGE deployment of NATO troops in a future Palestinian state may prove crucial in countering fears it would become a base for attacks on Israel.
In the first new element to arise from the indirect proximity talks that began this week, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are reportedly prepared to consider the proposal.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to a deployment in talks with US special envoy George Mitchell yesterday, and the newspaper Israel Hayom reported that advisers to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not dismissed the idea of foreign troops on the Palestinian side of a new border.
The paper said the proposal was the idea of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who suggested sending 40,000 troops to the Palestinian territories.
The report gained credibility as Israel Hayom is close to Mr Netanyahu, who has a good personal relationship with Mr Sarkozy.
After yesterday's meeting between Mr Abbas and Mr Mitchell, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat surprised many with an optimistic assessment that agreement could be reached on a Palestinian state in the four months allowed for the proximity talks.
"We are focusing on final-status issues like borders and security," Mr Erekat said. "We hope that in the next four months we can achieve the two-state solution on the 1967 borders."
The talks are being held amid reminders of the instability to Israel's north and south.
The Haaretz newspaper reported that the Israeli military was putting together a plan for the mass evacuation of civilians in the event of missile attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The paper said Israeli authorities were assuming that in the event of a new war with Lebanon, many rockets would be fired into Israel's north, while rockets with heavier warheads would be aimed at the greater Tel Aviv area.
During the 1991 Gulf War the authorities had a mixed reaction to civilians fleeing their homes, the paper said, but "this time" they would treat any such evacuations as a given.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nazrallah has admitted having up to 20,000 missiles along Lebanon's border with Israel, but many analysts believe the total could be closer to 40,000.
Meanwhile, to Israel's south, a Palestinian human rights group has reported that the ruling Hamas party has destroyed 20 homes, claiming they were illegally built. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said: "Twenty families - about 150 people - lost their homes."
The group urged Hamas not to proceed with 180 more West Bank demolitions. Hamas has been a constant critic of Israel's mass demolition of Palestinian-owned homes in East Jerusalem.
Hamas this week executed three convicted murderers by firing squad.
The United Nations and the Middle East
=== "The UNEF left the Sinai in 1967 because it had agreed that if told to leave it would do so. To many observers, the order by Nasser for the UNEF to withdraw meant that trouble was brewing. Israel feared that she would be attacked and before waiting to be attack, Israel launched attacks on Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. This war lasted only six days and the fighting only stopped when the Security Council ordered a cease-fire. It also drew up Resolution 242 which they believed would restore peace to the Middle East.
" ===Read the story :- http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/united_nations_middle_east.htm
Alex News
May 28, 2010
It is all about olive branches !...
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1 comment:
One Israeli nuclear warhead is equal to how many hezbollah missiles?
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