France’s president called on the international community to help enforce the cease-fire in Gaza, suggesting Thursday that Europe could play a role in monitoring the dismantling of tunnels dug by Hamas terrorists as well as helping to secure gateways between Gaza and Egypt and Israel.
The comments Thursday from President Francois Hollande lacked specifics, including how a monitoring mission would be pulled together or who would lead it.
Hollande said France had proposed international supervision of the destruction of the tunnels, securing the re-opening of gateways from Gaza to Israel and Egypt, and providing the Palestinian Authority “the means to respond to the humanitarian crisis and to begin reconstruction.”
“Negotiation for negotiation’s sake is not enough,” he told a gathering of international ambassadors in Paris. “It is Europe that must pressure each one, and not just be a complaints window.”
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Britain, France and Germany were working toward a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for sustainable cease-fire in Gaza.
An official at the French president’s office, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity, said details on any international monitoring mission had yet to be worked out.
(AP)
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4 Responses
France?? That’s like the foxes running the henhouse. They hate us, why on earth would we want them anywhere near us?
Sure. Go right ahead. Be my guest. They will nab them like they did to the UN “Peacekeepers” in Syria. Perhaps then, will it serve as a wake-up call to Europe.
Perhaps Israel should make a counter-demand that whomever is in charge of patrolling Gaza should be required to sell Israel “Terrorism” insurance. If anyone from Gaza attacks Israel, the insurance company (i.e. the company who sold the policy) pays, with rates tied to the cost of interception systems and a higher payout for damages. If the UN or EU have skin in the game (required to pay Israel anytime someone in Gaza takes a shot at Israel), they’ll do a better job.
“They hate us”
Actually the French government is as supportive of Israel as any on the continent of Europe. The French Left, currently in power, has been good for Jews for well over a century. (Two examples: It supported Dreyfus, and it armed Israel generously during the 1950s.) The problem is that Hollande will probably lose the next election and the French Right does not have such a good record.