Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organiza-tion (PLO) closely associated with Pales-tinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Qatar-based Al Jazeera news on Monday that the idea of deploying an international force in Gaza was discussed during a four-way summit held in Egypt last week with participation of Abbas as well as Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan.Abbas is pushing for the deployment of an international peacekeeping force on the Gaza border and is seeking the support of the United States and the European Union for such a measure. The idea entails placing international forces around Gaza and not inside the Gaza Strip, a top Palestinian official earlier confirmed to The Media Line, a news portal on Middle East issues.
Rabbo said Monday that they wanted this international force to be formed by troops from countries like Indonesia, Qatar and Turkey. Earlier, he also said such forces would be deployed mostly on the Rafah border with Egypt and in the north of Gaza, around Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, which are near the Erez crossing with Israel.
"It is not possible for Ankara to determine a position or make a statement about an idea which has not yet even been opened for discussion among the international community. Sending troops to Palestine even as part of a peacekeeping force like it did in Lebanon by joining UNIFIL [United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon] is not on Turkey's agenda, even at a level of thought for consideration," a Turkish diplomat, speaking under customary condition of anonymity, told Today's Zaman on Monday.
Another official, also speaking under condition of anonymity, said such deployment of an international force was "de facto encouraging division of Palestine."
"This idea has been floated apparently without considering its consequences," the official added.
Palestinian Ambassador Nabil Maarouf told Today's Zaman on Monday that the decision for sending foreign troops to Gaza should be made at the international level. Yet he also added that Palestine would prefer Turkish troops' contribution to such force if asked. "There is a Palestinian demand for an international force to protect Palestinian people. This decision should be made on the international level. But if you ask me if Palestine prefers Turkish troops, yes, of course we do," Maarouf said.
"Mr. Abbas already asked Mr. [Abdullah] Gül to send Turkish troops to Palestine, even before this idea of sending foreign troops to Gaza was on the agenda. This means that we clearly prefer Turkish troops," Maarouf reiterated, referring to a telephone conversation which took place last month between Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül and Abbas following Abbas' move to sack the Hamas-led government.
Maarouf also confirmed that Abbas was not able to receive a response to his demand from Gül then.
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have already rejected the notion of deploying international forces around Gaza to maintain calm in the region.
Ismail Haniyya, the prime minister for the former Hamas-dominated government, said such a force was unacceptable and Izz a-Din al-Qassam, an armed group belonging to Hamas, said any such presence would be regarded as an occupation force and would be subject to attacks.
Khalid Al-Batsh, a leader of the Islamic Jihad, said the movement rejected the call for any international forces in the Gaza Strip. "Their presence will damage the Palestinian cause and the resistance of the Palestinian people," he said at the time.
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