UN envoy: Israel, PA should weigh int'l peacekeepers in Gaza

The United Nations' newly appointed special envoy to the Middle East said Thursday that Israel, the Palestinians and the UN should consider stationing international peacekeepers in the Gaza Strip.

Michael Williams said, however, that the format of the international force in southern Lebanon, bolstered in the wake of last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah, may not be the ideal model for Gaza.

Israel has been consistently opposed to the deployment of international peacekeepers in Gaza and the West Bank, saying such a move would interfere with its own security measures.

"I'm not sure this [Lebanon] is the right model for Gaza. But I think that this is one of the things that we - the UN - and Israel and the Palestinians need to be thinking about for the future," Williams said.

"It goes without saying it would be a hard task to pull it [a Gaza peacekeeping force] together," said Williams, who helped put together last year's force for southern Lebanon.

"But sometimes, I think, the international community realizes the importance of political stability and peace in this region. Member states and prime ministers and ministers of defense and so on have to think very carefully about deploying their troops in difficult circumstances. But I have no doubt that if we came to that juncture, we could get such an international force," he said.

On his first visit to the region as UN envoy, Williams condemned the Qassam rocket fire on southern Israel and said he feared "vicious fighting" between Hamas and Fatah seriously threatened the two-month-old Palestinian unity government.

"I'm not sure how many shocks like this it [the unity government] can survive. But I think it's very important for the Palestinian people that it does survive," Williams said.

Rafah mandate extended

Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the European Union have agreed to extend the mandate for the EU's Border Assistance Mission (BAM) at the Rafah Crossing, according to correspondence between the parties.

However, a number of disagreements remain over the nature of the EU BAM's mandate.

In a document received by Haaretz, Israel has alluded to the fact that EU BAM's mandate of enforcement should be broadened.

A European Union source said the EU is hesitant to take on enforcement responsibilities for its observers there and would prefer to continue relying on Palestinian forces to fulfill that role.

In an official letter dated May 15, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni informed the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, that "as agreed in consultation between us [Israel and the EU], the Government of Israel agrees to the extension of the EU BAM mandate in accordance with the arrangements established in the Agreed Arrangements, subject to the additional arrangements and improvements agreed upon between us and set out in the annex to this letter."

The annex refers to a number of key issues:

1. Sums greater than NIS 80,000 (or its equivalent in other currencies) will not be allowed to pass.

2. Dangerous materials, such as explosives, will not be allowed to pass, according to a list of "Goods of Concern," that has been agreed upon by the Security Working Group.

3. "Persons of Concern" - The document points to an attached letter of May 9 by Lt. General Keith Dayton, U.S. Security Coordinator, to Shalom Tourgeman, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. In his letter

Dayton notes that the computer system of the liaison office at Kerem Shalom (responsible for the activities of the Rafah crossing) had been updated with a list of "persons of concern" and that a "six-hour procedure contained in the security section of the Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing" would go into effect once such persons were identified.

According to this procedure, which relies on Israel transferring information on the "suspects," the EU observers are supposed to delay these individuals for six hours.

The procedure has never been activated, mostly because Israel has been hesitant to transfer information on the "suspects," concerned that this would reveal sensitive information.

However, a similar letter Sa'eb Erekat, the chief negotiator for the PLO, sent to Solana, suggests a different picture. In the letter, dated May 14, Erekat is also asking the EU to extend the mandate of EU BAM. Erekat promises to attach an annex that will detail the improvements agreed upon. Two days later, on May 16, Erekat sent the Palestinian version.

The text of the Palestinian version is less specific and deals with the three issues mentioned above, noting that the discussions are ongoing.

Four days later, Erekat sent another letter to Solana, in which he is highly critical of Livni's letter, which allegedly suggests that the issues mentioned in the annex had been finalized. Erekat maintains that there is no agreement on those issues and there had been no discussion about them.

European sources note that Erekat's statements are more accurate - and that essentially there is no agreement on the aforementioned issues.

The issues in dispute are expected to be discussed in a meeting scheduled Thursday between Ambassador Marc Otte, the EU's Special Envoy to the Middle East, and senior Foreign Ministry officials.

The EU representatives are expected to try to blur the language in the annex, so it will be acceptable to both sides.