Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami said Monday that the United States opposes sending UN observers to the West Bank and Gaza Strip following reports that Israel has been asked to consider the idea, reported AFP.
"I met with many US officials ... they all said the United States will not encourage it," Ben Ami told army radio after reports in the Israeli media that Washington was floating a plan for an international presence in the Palestinian areas after more than five weeks of bloodshed.
"The administration opposes the deployment of an international force," he said in a separate interview with Israeli public radio.
The Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted Sunday an Israeli sources as saying that the US administration was examining the possibility if Israel agrees to post an international force in the Palestinian territories upon the Palestinian Authority's request, following the deadly clashes that claimed the lives of more than 170 people and injured thousands.
The UN Security Council is to take up the Palestinian demand for an international force in a closed session planned for Wednesday, said the paper, adding that until now, both Israel and the US have been adamantly opposed to the idea.
According to the source, US President Bill Clinton, eager to persuade Israelis and Palestinians to lay down their arms, may try to persuade Prime Minister Ehud Barak to accede to a temporary UN force to appease the Palestinians, when the two meet at the White House on Sunday.
According to the source, the US may suggest to post a force that would not be armed, but would have observer status similar to that of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), dispatched after the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994.
TIPH'S sole function is to monitor and report on events. The force is composed of 30 Norwegians, said the paper.
The source said that the idea has been broached by the highest echelons of the US peace team, and that it was discussed with Ben-Ami on his recent trip to the US.
Barak's spokesman said Sunday that he did not know whether Israel has been contacted about this idea, but that Israel is adamantly opposed to it, according to the paper.
Israel's foreign ministry said that US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and Ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke, told Ben-Ami that they would oppose this initiative.
The Israeli source said that the US peace team is trying to find a way for the Palestinians to feel they are getting some of what they want, while Israel's interests are not getting harmed.
"The idea has come up in a number of meetings," said another Israeli official in Washington. "The Americans ask whether we can work with this idea. But it is a total non-starter from an Israeli perspective." – (Several Sources)
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