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Egypt Pushing to Establish Gaza Peacekeeping Mission
(The National-UAE) Vanessa Ghanem - Egypt is pushing for a UN Security Council resolution "as soon as possible" to establish a peacekeeping force in Gaza, Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told The National. He said the main mandate of the proposed Board of Peace is to monitor the flow of aid funds. However, "it will not be acceptable to have foreigners running Gaza," he said, insisting that the mission of the International Stabilization Force and the Board of Peace should be to provide support for Palestinians to run their own affairs. Sources said that Cairo is expected to lead a four-nation Gaza stabilization force made up of at least 4,000 troops from Egypt, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Indonesia. The force will rely mainly on light firearms and armored vehicles. It would initially be deployed in areas from which Israel's military had withdrawn under the first phase of the U.S. plan.