EU eyes security support for Palestinian deal

By Ingrid Melander

AVIGNON, France (Reuters) - France is looking at the possibility of the European Union joining an international force to boost security in the Palestinian territories in support of a hoped-for peace deal with Israel, diplomats said on Friday.

While there are no concrete proposals on the table yet, the force would help to build Israel's confidence in security measures following a peace agreement, the diplomats said as EU foreign ministers met in Avignon, France.

The 27-nation bloc already helps monitor the Rafah crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, and provides mentoring and equipment for the Palestinian police.

A diplomat working for the French EU presidency said Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner would put preliminary ideas for a European role in a possible international force to his peers at the meeting on Saturday.

"If there is an (Israeli-Palestinian) peace agreement by the end of this year, the international community must mobilize to provide guarantees for this agreement," the diplomat said.

"The international community, not only the EU but including the EU, would help guarantee this agreement with an international force that would include Europeans, so that the withdrawal of Israeli forces could go smoothly," he said.

On Friday, however, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying that he doubted a full peace deal with Israel could be reached this year, and urging the next U.S. administration to continue negotiations.

LACK OF TRUST

Another EU diplomat said the idea was to back up Palestinian security forces, because lack of trust with Israel was the main problem.

"The idea of an international force in the (Palestinian) territories, and not only in Gaza, is in the air for the medium or long term, in the framework of a resolution (of the conflict)," another EU envoy said.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said he supported the plan.

"In principle, yes, I support the idea of Kouchner, we'll have to discuss tomorrow about the concrete possibility of launching an international force in the Middle East," he told Reuters on arrival.

"All the parties concerned should be in agreement before deciding that at European level," he added.

The idea of sending an international security force to the Palestinian territories to overcome Israeli security concerns has been mooted in the past to remove one of the main obstacles to peacemaking.

Last year, advisers close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said they saw a big international force as possibly the only way to satisfy Israel's security needs during the time it would take to create a Palestinian force able to combat and disarm militants.

(Additional reporting by Mark John; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)