Key questions remain about proposed deployment of ‘international forces’ to Gaza
We’ve spoken to Sultan Barakat, a professor of public policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, about the proposed deployment to Gaza of an “International Stabilization Force” under the proposal announced by the White House last week.
Here’s what he said – the text below has slightly been edited for brevity:
“It is a huge task because it’s being done outside the United Nations framework. Had it been done within the UN framework … things would have moved fast.
“But the way it’s been left vague means that Israel has even more excuses to delay and be very selective as to their withdrawal from the Gaza Strip – where they want to withdraw, where they don’t want to withdraw, what kind of exchange they’re expecting and so on.
“A really important, critical point is that until now we don’t know who is willing to contribute to those forces and what will be the mandate of those forces – if it is about disarming Hamas on behalf of Israel then it is due to fail, and the nations providing soldiers and paying for it they will regret getting involved.
“However, if it is a UN-protection force – as happened in East Timor, Kosovo and elsewhere – then I think there is hope. What’s required is to create a buffer zone between Israel and the Palestinians to allow the Palestinians the time to reconstitute their political scene and to rebuild and stabilise, and also to offer Israel the security they seek from Gaza.
Anything short of that is a recipe for a disaster and particularly if it ends up including forces from the region. We know very well that Israel does not respect any country in the region, they will not hold themselves from attacking the Palestinians and making those countries also victims in-between.
“It has to be an international force with Western nations contributing and potentially even going as far as China and others.”
It has to be better than UNIFIL which has no power to stop Israel from continuing to occupy and bomb Lebanon...
‘Without US pressure, nothing will move’: Hopes for wider political solution low
Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, says the while the latest Gaza plan could lead to a cessation of hostilities, hopes for a broader political solution remain dim without firm action from the US.
“There is hope,” Levy told Al Jazeera, when asked whether the proposal could stop the fighting. “But if you ask me about some kind of further or greater solution, I think we are as far as we have been before this agreement,” he stressed.
Levy said any progress towards ending the occupation or achieving a viable Palestinian state would depend on decisive intervention from the US.
“You will not get any further unless the American president will be decisive enough, which I have my doubts,” Levy added. “He doesn’t seem to be enthusiastic about the two-state solution either – so without American pressure nothing will move.”
Israel should have already ceased fire under Trump plan for Gaza, says Qatar
Israel should have already ceased operations in Gaza in line with President Trump’s plan, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
“We await the outcomes of the negotiations in the coming days regarding the ceasefire. This question should be directed first to the Israeli occupation government. It was supposed to actually cease fire if the statements made by the PM there regarding adherence to the Trump plan were true,” Majed al-Ansari told reporters in Doha.
