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Global force for Palestinian areas mooted

Paris: France on Monday pledged $300 million in aid to the Palestinians and called for an international force to “help” Palestinian security services “when the time comes and when the conditions are right.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy made these remarks when inaugurating the International Donors’ Conference on Palestine in Paris.

The Palestinian militant organisation, Hamas, immediately criticised the proposal to deploy international soldiers, saying it would amount to “blatant interference” in internal affairs. “We reject this suggestion and consider this a blatant interference in internal Palestinian affairs and a new plan to destroy the democratic choice of the Palestinian people,” the Islamist movement’s spokesman, Fawzi Barhum, said.

The donors’ conference in Paris, attended by around 70 countries and the world’s major international organisations, is intended to mobilise economic support for the government of President Mahmoud Abbas, who has requested $5.6 billion to finance an ambitious three-year development plan for the territories. Mr. Abbas urged the international community on Monday to step up support to the Palestinians or risk a “catastrophe”.

“Without this support, without the payment of aid that will allow the Palestinian treasury to fulfil its role, we will be facing a total catastrophe in the West Bank and Gaza,” Mr. Abbas told the conference. He also called for a halt to new Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. “I expect a complete halt of all settlement activities without exception,” Mr. Abbas said, while also calling for prisoner releases, the dismantlement of 127 “wildcat settlements,” and a halt to the construction of the separation barrier.

But Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said it was essential to bolster Israel’s security at the same time as improving the lot of Palestinians if peace was to last.

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