Dream Deployments

I get a real kick out of these stories suggesting an international force be deployed in the disputed territories considering how frequently EU border monitors hightailed it into Israel whenever the Egyptian/Gaza border got Hamas scary.

In fact, I can find no evidence that the EU observers/border monitors ever went back to their post once Hamas consolidated their hold on the Gaza Strip last June. In what can only be described as an act of supreme act of irony, the EU border monitors have regrouped in the Israeli city of Ashkelon - allegedly waiting merely the opportunity to resume their posts.

The mechanism for an international security presence in the Gaza Strip "could be devised quickly" if Israel and the Palestinians reach an agreement on the matter, EU Middle East envoy Marc Otte told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. Otte said there is "definitely more interest than in the past" for the idea from both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. "After the [Second] Lebanon War, the sides see the merit in an international security presence," Otte said, referring to the international force in southern Lebanon. At the same time, he said, "we are a long way away from implementation." Otte said that the EU was currently "in a listening mode" on the matter, adding: "We must make sure that all the parties are interested."

Both Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have spoken positively about an international force in recent days, and they were not alone. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at Monday's donors' conference in Paris that France "proposes the deployment, when the time and conditions are right, of an international force to assist the Palestinian security services."

Abbas said Tuesday he supported Sarkozy's proposal, telling a press conference in Paris that he welcomed the idea. "We are working for this to become the international position in the near future," he said. Livni hinted at a NATO meeting in Brussels earlier this month that NATO would have to play a part in ensuring security if Israel were to carry out significant territorial concessions.

"Israel's ability to reach an agreement based on substantial territorial concessions directly relates to our need to make sure we do not jeopardize our security and our future. Here, I believe, the dialogue between Israel and NATO begins," Livni said.
"We are now in a process that is expected to strengthen the capabilities of the Palestinian Authority - so they would fight terror instead of Israel," Livni said. "However, one cannot exclude the possibility that we will need to discuss what can be the role of NATO in supporting the need for a change, a real change, on the ground."

Hamas spokesmen, however, have said consistently they would oppose any international force and view it as an occupier no different than Israel.

Unlike Livni, I really cannot see NATO taking a leading role in any international deployments to the Gaza Strip – even under a UN mandate. The lack of enthusiasm for deployment from NATO member nations in places like Afghanistan should serve as evidence that this idea is stillborn to say the least.

Furthermore, I cannot imagine a Canadian prime minister crazy enough to actually send a deployment of Canadian soldiers to the Gaza border….well, on second thought, maybe Taliban Jack would if he ever got elected.