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Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-872904
Israel: International Stabilization Force Must Focus on Disarming Hamas, Not Becoming Another Ineffective UN Force
(Jerusalem Post) Amichai Stein - Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon warned Wednesday in an interview that the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza should not become another "ineffective mechanism, like UNIFIL," referring to the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. "We have to learn from the mistakes of the past. You want something constructive and effective, not an international presence that looks good on paper but actually destabilizes the situation....Israel's red line is effectiveness. We can't afford a symbolic force that doesn't act." Asked about a possible Gaza role for the Palestinian Authority, Danon said: "We've seen the weakness of the PA in Judea and Samaria.... Looking purely at capabilities, they simply don't have them. They can't control large areas even in the West Bank, so expectations for them in Gaza are unrealistic today." He noted that the U.S. plan envisions a future role for the PA, conditional on significant reforms and capacity-building. "But that's a long way off." "The ISF has to have the ability and the authority to act, to neutralize those tunnels, to remove Hamas's weapons." If Hamas is allowed to survive militarily, "it will be a failure of the entire mission."