US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ruled out any immediate involvement of international peacekeepers in the Middle East.
Rumsfeld, visiting an air base north of Kabul, said any suggestion of peacekeepers being sent in to the West Bank was "premature". "You cannot have a peacekeeping force because there is no peace to keep. "What's required is a reduction in violence and an end to conflict... Then it's entirely possible that one or more of the parties might look to outsiders and ask for observers or peacekeepers, but at this stage that has really not happened," he said Saturday.
Meanwhile, US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Richard Myers said Washington has no plans to deploy US troops in a proposed multinational peace force for Palestinian areas.
The creation of a peacekeeping force was part of an eight-point document aimed at reinvigorating Middle East peace efforts presented by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz to US President George W. Bush in Texas on Thursday.
Myers, according to AFP, said he was aware of the Saudi proposal. But "in terms of using the US military in the Middle East in this process, that's never come up and has never been considered", Myers commented. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
