HEBRON, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday asked the United Nations to deploy a permanent international force in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, after Israel announced it was suspending operations of an observer force that had been in the city of Hebron for more than 20 years.
The U.N. should “guarantee the safety and protection of the people of Palestine” until “the end of Israel’s belligerent occupation,” said Palestinian official Saeb Erekat. Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want both to be part of a future state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Monday it would not extend the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, saying “we will not allow the continuation of an international force that acts against us.”
TIPH has deployed civilian observers from Norway, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey in Hebron since 1997. They report on violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws. Hundreds of hard-line Jewish settlers guarded by thousands of soldiers live in the heart of the city.
TIPH said it has yet to get an official request to leave, but the mayor of Hebron warned of dire consequences if they do.
“This will lead to an escalation of settler attacks and violations of Palestinian human rights by the occupation in these areas,” said Tayser Abu Sneineh. “It is clear they (Israel) do not want them to be present to document attacks, especially by settlers who are protected by the army.”
Ishay Fleisher, a spokesman for the Jewish community in Hebron, said the force has finished its job and should go home.
“We want a sense of normal life. When you have these foreigners walking around in uniform it’s a kind of feeling like they’re watching you like you’re an animal in a zoo,” he said.
Eugene Kontorovich, the director of international law at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a conservative think tank in Jerusalem, said the Israeli decision was long overdue.
“TIPH was always designed to be a temporary force, that is what the T stands for, and why the mandate requires an affirmative decision to extend every three months. It was never meant to be a permanent institution, but diplomatic inertia has kept it in place for over two decades,” he said.
