Will UN Be Asked to Intervene in Current Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?
By AFR News
October 3, 2000
JERUSALEM (AgapePress) – Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen exchanged gunfire in Gaza today despite an agreement to end the fighting. The Prime Minister of Israel says he hopes the violence that has claimed 51 lives is over. AFR New’s Jerusalem correspondent Carrie Hart reports on what effects the latest unrest could have on the peace process.
“Personally, I don’t think that Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat can comfortably negotiate in such an atmosphere,” Hart says. “So I think there will be efforts to put the peace process on hold for the time being.”
However, Hart believes pressure will come from outside for negotiations to continue.
“There will probably be international pressure put on both sides to keep negotiating,” she says, “especially by the Clinton Administration because, obviously, he is leaving office soon and he’s looking for a Middle East peace deal for his legacy.”
Hart also reports that Arab leaders are pressuring the United Nations to get involved in the conflict–a step that would be advantageous to the Palestinians.
“The UN has always been sympathetic to the cause of the Palestinians, and the organization has not been very sympathetic toward Israel,” she says. “I don’t think the Israeli government wants UN involvement in their land issues [because it] means a loss of control over the land. It may also mean that Israel will have to relinquish control over the Temple Mount and the old City of Jerusalem, except for possibly the Western Wall in the Jewish quarter.”
“I don’t believe that the Israeli public wants that either, nor [does] the opposition in the government. But Ehud Barak may feel he has been backed into a corner and might compromise and bring the UN into the situation.”
Hart says such a decision would be a big mistake for Israel and an advantage to the Palestinians because “[they] have more friends in the UN than Israel, and would only gain from UN involvement in the peace process.”
© 2000 AgapePress all rights reserved. Used with Permission.