Egypt FM moots Arab force for Gaza

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

CAIRO (AFP) — Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said an Arab force for the Gaza Strip could help end violence in the impoverished territory, the official news agency MENA reported on Saturday.

However the minister, in a magazine interview to appear on Sunday, stopped short of making a direct appeal for the deployment of such a force in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

"The presence of an Arab force in the territory could help stop violence and end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said in the interview, excerpts of which were published by MENA.

Abul Gheit said the idea warrants careful study "and deserves to be taken seriously."

Egypt is sponsoring unity talks between the Islamist Hamas and Fatah, the rival movement of secular...