UN calls for Peacekeeping Mission in Middle East by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan United Nations Foundation 4:28pm 15th Jun, 2003   14.06.2003    In an interview published in Haaretz today, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called for an armed peacekeeping force to stop the bloody cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.    "I would like to see an armed peacekeeping force act as a buffer between the Israelis and Palestinians," Annan said. "The monitoring mechanism that will be put in place next week is a beginning and it may be enough if the parties are able to break the cycle of violence," Annan said, referring to a U.S. mission of 51 monitors led by special envoy John Wolf that is heading to Jerusalem tomorrow to evaluate progress of the road map peace plan for a Palestinian state (Akiva Eldar, Haaretz, June 13).    Annan's suggestion seems to be shared by some experts, the New York Times reports today. "The ideal solution would be some sort of United Nations presence or NATO presence," said Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in the United States.    According to the Times, U.S. administration officials have also discussed the presence of a more extensive monitoring force in the region, but they consider it too early to discuss the plan. U.S. officials have said that U.S. President George W. Bush is still trying to determine his role in the peace process, as well as what kind of criticism of both sides can help or damage the situation (Steven Weisman, New York Times, June 13).    Bush said yesterday that he supports Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in attacking militant groups, a change from Bush's comments Tuesday condemning Israeli attacks against Hamas members that also killed civilians.    "The issue is not Israel," said Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, yesterday. "The issue is not the Palestinian authority." The issue is "terrorists who are killing in an attempt to stop a hopeful process from moving forward," Fleischer said (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, June 13).    Yesterday, Sharon promised a "war to the bitter end" against Hamas, despite the opposition of the majority of Israelis to the attacks on leaders of the group. According to Reuters, an opinion poll published by the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper found that 67 percent of Israelis wanted Sharon's "assassination policy" to stop, at least temporarily, to help Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas solidify his authority, weakened by the recent attacks from Israelis (Jeffrey Heller, Reuters, June 13).    "There is no question he [Abbas] has been weakened by this," said an Arab official. "This gives ammunition to his critics" who are accusing Abbas of being too accepting of Israeli terms to proceed with the road map, the official said (Kessler, Washington Post).    Yesterday, Annan called on the international community "to support Abbas and to work with him." He also said that although the Palestinian suicide bombers are "reprehensible and cannot be defended," the attacks from Israel are only making the cycle of violence continue (Eldar, Haaretz).    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is returning to Aqaba, Jordan, next week for a meeting on the road map with the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia -- known collectively as the Quartet -- said yesterday that "we are encouraging the Palestinian leadership, we are encouraging the Israeli leadership, to act with determination, to punch through this wave of violence to make sure that it does not stop us" (Stephen Farrell, London Times, June 13).    During his visit to the Middle East next week, scheduled to coincide with a World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan, Powell will also try to meet with Israeli and Palestinian authorities to discuss the peace plan (Weisman, New York Times).    Today, two women were seriously wounded after gunmen fired at an Israeli car near the Jewish settlement of Neve Tzuf in the West Bank, Reuters reports. Near the West Bank city of Jenin, Hamas gunmen killed an Israeli civilian who was buying charcoal in a Palestinian village, and Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian militants.    During the funeral today of Hamas senior member Yasser Taha, his wife and their 1-year-old daughter, who were killed yesterday by the Israeli army, Hamas members said that "God's revenge is coming soon and the Zionists will pay the price of their crimes."    The Israeli army issued a statement expressing "sorrow over the death" of Taha's family (Heller, Reuters).    Hamas, which was formed in the 1980s with the goal of wiping out the Jewish state, has killed 234 Israelis and wounded 1,400 in 73 suicide bombings since the current intifada began in September 2000, according to Israeli army statistics (Peter Goodspeed, National Post, June 13). Visit the related web page
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