European FMs: We'll monitor ships
By JPOST.COM STAFF
LAST UPDATED: 06/07/2010 08:16
UK and France want European forces to control Gaza sea access.
A ship protesting the Gaza blockade Photo: .
French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Monday suggested that Europe take
responsibility for oversight of materials entering Gaza from the sea.
Under
an international agreement, European observers are supposed to monitor
people entering Gaza overland from Egypt, however the election of
the Hamas government has caused difficulties in implementing the
agreement.
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Kouchner spoke after a meeting with British Foreign Minister William
Hague in Paris on Sunday.
Kouchner and Hague called for a "credible and transparent" probe of the
Gaza flotilla incident, adding that "there should be an international
presence at minimum."
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren said that Israel intends to reject an international inquiry into Monday's raid on a
flotilla aiming to break the Gaza blockade.
"We are rejecting an international commission. We are discussing with
the Obama administration a way in which our inquiry will take place,"
Oren said.