Color me surprised. I’ve been following I/P for a few years but this is the first time I’ve ever heard a Palestinian initiative to replace Israeli occupation forces with NATO troops under US control, although I’ve thought about it. Wouldn’t this amount to NATO protecting Palestinians from settlers and other Israelis? Will we be reading more about this?
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told visiting US Congressmen on Thursday that the security of the future Palestinian state will be handed to NATO under US command, his adviser said Friday.
The Palestinian state must also be “empty of [Israeli] settlements,” the President said, according to official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA.
Members of the US Congress and Senate delegation, headed by Democrat Senator Steny Hoyer, met with the President in Ramallah on Thursday, and quizzed Abbas on Israel’s designation as a Jewish state, the status of refugees, and reconciliation between the President’s Fatah party and rival Hamas, Presidential adviser Nimir Hamad said
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In September 2010, Abbas had outlined the government’s acceptance of international forces from NATO or similar to the UNIFIL force operating in southern Lebanon playing a role in Palestinian security, as long as forces did not include one single Israeli, whether from the civilian population or the military.
Not “one single Israeli”. hmm.
