RAMALLAH — A new report has urgently called on Egypt and Jordan to deploy more than 12,000 military
troops to stabilize the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The report by the Israel-Palestinian Committee for Research and
Information called on the Palestinian Authority to appeal to Egypt and
Jordan for security help.
Authored by Palestinian analyst Khaled Duzdar and
former Israeli security official Yossi Ben Ari, the report said the Egyptian
and Jordanian deployment should last three years and aim to "overcome
internal chaos and enforce law and order," Middle East Newsline reported.
"Despite heavy pressures from the international community and from
Israel, the PA leadership has not taken substantial steps to disarm any of
the armed groups, nor succeeded to gain control and enforce law and order
over the Palestinian population," the report said. "It seems there is a
little chance that such steps will be taken before the general parliamentary
elections at the end of January 2006."
On Friday, Egyptian Interior Ministry troops restored order to the Sinai-Gaza border after the most serious clash with Palestinian fighters since the establishment of the PA in 1994. During a gunbattle on Jan. 4 in Sinai, two Egyptian soldiers were killed and another 30 were injured.
An Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement appealed to the PA to increase security on its side of the border. The statement termed the border clash "unwarranted and unprecedented violence" and blamed the Egyptian casualties on an "irresponsible group of Palestinians."
IPCRI, founded in 1988 by an Israeli and Palestinian, has hosted numerous seminars on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The group has received funding from the European Union and United
States and submitted reports to both Israel and the PA.
The latest report said the PA has failed to fulfill most of its obligations to achieve security. The authors cited a corrupt government, chaos within PA security forces, lack of planning and shortage of foreign financing.
"The preferred option is the use an Egyptian force in Gaza and Jordanian
force in the West Bank," the report said. "This seems the right match, as
this will probably be the preferred Palestinian choice."
The report cited friendly relations between the PA and Egypt and Jordan,
the sharing of language, culture and border. Egypt and Jordan were also
said to be familiar with the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
"Above all, the Egyptians and Jordanians have a strategic interest to be
involved in the Palestinian territories, being the PA's neighbors," the
report said. "Egypt and Jordan both have a direct interest in containing the
power and capacity of radical forces from influencing and infiltrating their
own territories."
Egypt and Jordan have already been the most active contributors to the international effort to train and mentor PA security forces. Egypt was said to have deployed 300 trainers, including 10 brigadier generals and colonels, in the Gaza Strip. Jordan was said to have a much smaller presence in the Gaza Strip.
In 2005, Israel rejected a Jordanian request to send the Badr Brigade of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to patrol the West Bank. Israel cited concerns that the brigade would end up abandoning its mission and join the power struggle in the PA.
But the report said Israel might not object to the deployment of Egyptian and Jordanian security forces under the direct control of Cairo and Amman. Ben Ari and Duzdar, citing the collapse of the Oslo peace process, expected the foreign forces to spark PA efforts to enforce discipline
and restore order.
At the same time, the authors said any foreign force must come under the command of Abbas. The report attributed the failure of PA security forces in part to Abbas's refusal to confront Palestinian insurgency groups.
The report recommended that Egypt deploy a brigade, or about 2,500
soldiers, in the Gaza Strip. Jordan should deploy a division, or 10,000
soldiers in the West Bank. The foreign forces should include military and
police units equipped with light weapons.
"Those forces will operate separately from the Palestinian security
forces, either functionally — they will not be subordinate to Palestinian
field units and commanders — or geographically," the report said. "They
will have separate districts of responsibility, where they act
independently, with no Palestinian interference at the field level. They
will deploy in separate camps, organized for them in advance by the
Palestinian authorities, and assisted by other foreign parties."
