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KUALA LUMPUR - The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Thursday flatly rejected a UN plan under discussion for international peacekeepers in Gaza, calling instead for stronger leadership from Palestinians.
Secretary General of the 57-member OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, said the fighting in Gaza was between "the same people" and that leaders within the split Hamas-Fatah government had to take control of the situation.
"What is needed is not external forces, what is needed is a better understanding between internal forces," Ihsanoglu told reporters on the sidelines of an OIC health ministers' conference in the Malaysian capital.
"I do think that there is a need for strong leadership on behalf of all political leaders and the situation cannot be allowed to further deteriorate," he added.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday the idea of sending an international force to restore peace in the Gaza Strip was worth exploring amid fears of an all-out Palestinian civil war.
"This is an idea we need to explore," he said, adding he had had preliminary discussions on the issue with members of the UN Security Council.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana also said that all options should be considered to restore calm to Gaza, including deployment of an international force.
Ihsanoglu said he was in constant contact with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas of Fatah, and Hamas' Prime Minister Ismail Haniya over the violence.
"We are afraid that it will spread over into the West Bank," Ihsanoglu said.
"I have visited these places a few times, shuttling between Ramallah and Gaza, and I can say that the leadership should immediately show its strength and its resolution in implementing necessary acts (towards restoring calm)," he said.
Ihsanoglu blamed the fighting on a lack of will to heed a power-sharing agreement signed in Mecca in February by Abbas and Hamas' exiled supremo Khaled Meshaal.
"The situation there is a reflection of the lack of determination to abide with the Mecca agreement," he said.
- AFP /ls
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