Palestinian President agrees to deployment of international forces

In a move that critics have called an acquiescence to outside pressure, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced Tuesday that he would allow international forces to deploy in the Palestinian territories.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

The announcement came after a suggestion made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy during Monday's donor conference in Paris.

 

"International forces are absolutely acceptable for us," said Abbas Tuesday, although it is still unclear what the makeup of the international forces will be.

 

The Palestinians living in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza live under a military occupation imposed by Israeli military forces since 1967.  The international community has voiced hope that an international force would control the Palestinian population living under this military occupation, and prevent them from striking back against the occupying Israeli military.

 

Palestinian resistance groups have condemned the proposed deployment.  A spokesperson for the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigade (the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committee), Abu Abeer said, "We will not receive any international forces with flowers; instead we will be ready to blow our bodies in these forces as we will consider them a new occupation which we must get rid of by any means."