Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres urged Palestinians on Thursday to accept an Israeli offer to put American monitors into the Gaza Strip town of Rafah as a step toward taking charge of security in Palestinian areas.
"We suggested strongly to the chairman of the Palestinian Authority [Yasser Arafat] to become responsible for Rafah," which is at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip between Israel and Egypt, Peres told reporters at the United Nations, as quoted by Haaretz.
The Palestinians "even asked for some American monitors that we agreed to have," he said, without elaborating.
Peres added: "We're really anxious to see the Palestinians taking their security in their own hands and provide security for all parties in the territories."
An Israeli spokesman said the offer was put to Arafat by Peres several months ago when they met in Cairo, said the Tel Aviv-daily.
"Arafat said he needs 10 CIA observers to be there and Peres agreed to it, but since then nothing has happened. ... Arafat didn't follow up," the spokesman said.
Palestinians and other Arabs have repeatedly called for Israel to permit international monitors or a peacekeeping force to report on how incidents of violence start and to help quell the conflict.
Israel has rejected the idea of an international force but agreed to American monitors since the United States is already a key participant in regional peacemaking – Albawaba.com
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