Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Occupation By Other Means


PA demanding int'l force after peace agreement

"The Palestinians are proposing that a multinational force under U.S. command be deployed in the future Palestinian state, to monitor the implementation of any peace agreement reached with Israel.....

The Palestinians are aware that no matter what agreement is reached, the future Palestinian state will not be allowed to possess heavy weapons. The PA is prepared to accept limitations on the degree to which its security services are armed, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday, in a closed meeting at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

"We don't need tanks or planes, but we will not relinquish our self-respect," he said. "But it its clear to everyone that on the security issue, the agreement cannot be implemented without the prominent intervention of America as a third party."

Erekat said reaching an agreement this year was "critical," adding that the negotiations were at the point "where we were in Taba in 2001, and even beyond that." He did not describe the scope of the prospective agreement, but said, "there's no need for a 1,000-page agreement, but a document that includes parameters for the establishment of two states. Such an agreement will pass in a national referendum and will remove Hamas from power." "

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