Palestinian official calls for deployment of intervention forces in occupied territories

Palestinian foreign affairs minister and head of the political department of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Farouk al-Qaddoumi, called on Tuesday the Organization of the Islamic Conference to take the necessary steps within the United Nations' Security Council and member of the Quartet (USA, UN, Russia and the EU) to deploy international intervention forces in the Palestinian occupied territories.

"The deployment of such a force is the only means to restore confidence to stop acts of violence and bring certitude regarding Israel's commitment for peace and its readiness to leave the Palestinian territories," al-Qaddoumi told a press conference on the fringes of the meeting of OIC's foreign ministers.

Israel's argument of "peace first" is "impossible" to implement because only the "withdrawal first" guarantees to Palestinians their rights and gives trust in the peace process, he underlined.

Al-Qaddoumi said Palestinians expect from the OIC a "diplomatic and political support within international organizations," urging them to convince the United States to pressure Israel to halt assassinations, destruction, collective arrests and the besiege of Palestinian territories.

On operations carried out by Palestinians inside Israeli territories, the Palestinian official said it is impossible for the Palestinian authority to stop these acts since "real power of internal and external security lies in the hand of Israelis."

As for the amalgam between terrorism and resistance, al-Qaddoumi recalled that all international conventions recognize to peoples in occupied territories the right of resistance.