Global Policy Forum

By Robert Holloway

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asked the Security Council on Thursday to consider sending an armed multinational force to help end violence in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.

He told council members in closed session that the contingent should have "a robust mandate" under Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter, which authorises the use of military force to impose council decisions.

The text of Annan's remarks was made available to AFP. Diplomats confirmed that he followed the text. Annan said he did not envisage a United Nations force, but "rather a multinational force formed by a coalition of the willing" -- a group of nations allied in a military operation with council approval such as that in Kosovo. He noted that the council had discussed the desirability of sending limited numbers of unarmed observers to the Palestinian territories, but said their safety could not be guaranteed and they would be too few to bring about a ceasefire.

"It is for these reasons that I believe the deployment of a multinational force deserves serious consideration," Annan said. "The situation is so dangerous that the international community has an obligation to provide this assistance," he added.

Annan began by recalling the "horrific" scene in the Palestinian refugee camp at Jenin, in the West Bank, which top UN officials were able to visit Thursday for the first time in three weeks. "They witnessed people digging out corpses from the rubble with their bare hands," Annan told council members.

"The destruction is massive and the impact on the civilian population is devastating," he went on. The logic of war had taken hold, "previously understood 'red lines' have been crossed" and there were no red lines left, he said. Unless the international community acted now, "we may well see the resumption of a cycle of attacks and reprisals."

A multinational force would have four objectives, he continued.

First, it would work with the parties to end the violence. "This would entail monitoring the withdrawal and redeployment of the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) to positions held before September 28, 2000" -- the start of the intifada, the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

Second, the force would "gradually create secure conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory for the resumption of normal economic activity and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian and development assistance."

Third, it would make it possible to rebuild the shattered Palestinian Authority, and fourth, it would work to bring the stable political environment necessary for peace talks to begin. The advantage to Israel, he said, was that it would "place an international spotlight on any extremist Palestinian groups that try to undermine a ceasefire by continuing to engage in terrorism."

In a final note of caution, Annan said the force he envisaged must not appear to freeze the political and territorial status quo. "It could only succeed if Israelis saw it as part of a process leading to long-term security and if Palestinians saw it as part of a process leading to the end of the occupation and the withdrawal of Israeli settlements," he said.

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