Middle East Peacekeepers

Yasser Arafat has repeatedly called for international peacekeepers to be stationed in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinian territories. First of all, we are not talking about simple borders between the territories. We have the state of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. One top of this, we have the Israeli settlements scattered throughout the Palestinian territories.

Even if enough international peacekeepers could be allocated to cover this enormous area, who in their right mind would want to stand between the Palestinians and Israelis in this undeclared shooting war. It is easy to say let's install peacekeepers, it's quite another to put them in place in the middle of warring factions. Peacekeepers are intended to monitor and report ceasefire violations, not stand around as convenient targets.

If Arafat wants peacekeepers, it's time he and the Isrealis create an environment conducive to installing peacekeeping troops. I doubt there are many countries willing to risk their soldiers monitoring this hot war and having to explain the body bags arriving 'home' on a regular basis.

8/16/01
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