European Union ambassadors are to meet in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss what role the EU could play in Gaza once a cease-fire is firmly in place, EU officials said.
They will also discuss the crisis in Iraq.
An eventual European initiative aims to reinforce wide-ranging cease-fire talks underway in Cairo. The Europeans are hoping to take advantage of this week's 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire to cobble a more durable plan addressing underlying issues that could reignite violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
A European plan includes several elements the Obama administration believes are essential, including the need to ease Gazans' plight, strengthen the role of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and ensure the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
The plan titled "Gaza: Supporting a Sustainable Ceasefire" envisions the creation of a U.N.-mandated "monitoring and verification" mission, possibly drawing peacekeepers from the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), which has monitored a series of Israeli-Arab truces in the region since the late 1940s.
The mission "should cover military and security aspects, such as the dismantling of tunnels between Gaza and Israel, and the lifting of restrictions on movement and access," according to the document. "It could have a role in monitoring imports of construction and dual use materials allowed in the Gaza Strip, and the re-introduction of the Palestinian Authority."
The key aim of the initiative is to help the Palestinian Authority gradually assume military, and political, control over Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007. The paper -- which was drafted by Britain, France, and Germany -- could serve as the basis for a U.N. Security Council resolution.
"We are strongly committed to playing a role in supporting the Egyptian ceasefire initiative, to address security concerns whilst opening up access to Gaza and supporting the return of the Palestinian Authority," the document says. "In order to achieve a sustainable ceasefire, it will be important to address simultaneously Israeli demands in terms of security and Palestinian demands regarding the lifting of the restrictions and for both to be closely monitored through an international mechanism."
Britain, France and Germany have recently proposed that the EU would play a greater role on the ground in Gaza to help provide security, ease the situation facing the population and revive economic prospects in the Gaza Strip.
France and Germany have proposed putting a United Nations-mandated mission on the ground to monitor a cease-fire. European member states would likely play a lead role in the mission.
They are also calling for the reopening of the EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) Rafah crossing point in Gaza. The mission was launched in 2005 to monitor operations at the border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
"If the cease-fire holds and a substantive involvement from the EU is needed in order to make it stick, I'm sure people are willing to look into this," a senior EU official waqs quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying.
In a paper quoted by the newspaper, France and Germany have also called for steps to facilitate the movement of people and goods between Gaza and the West Bank and measures that would help the population of Gaza develop their agricultural and fisheries sectors. They suggested deploying an EU police-training mission, which currently only works in the West Bank, to Gaza.
Germany has reacted cautiously to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s call for Berlin to lead an EU inspection mission to Gaza.
Lieberman said Israel was in favour of all ideas to prevent a resurgence of violence, particularly if they prevent Hamas smuggling new weapons into the enclave. In this, he said, Berlin had a “very significant” role to play as the “leading political nation in Europe”.
“Germany has to bring EU governments to one table to develop a solution and prevent an economic and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” he said.
“Germany and the EU have to send inspectors to Gaza to oversee trade between the Palestinians and their neighbours . . . We don’t want to administer Gaza again but there has to be a solution for the people there and Germany should assume responsibility as leader of such a mission.”
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he could envision such a mission to Gaza but played down the idea of German “leadership” of it.
“Together with our European partners we are ready to make a contribution, such as an EU mission to oversee border crossings,” he said. “At present we are holding intensive talks with all sides to create the conditions for such a solution.”
Under discussion is a revival of the 2005-2007 EUBAM mission in which 90 EU inspectors oversaw traffic at the Palestinian-Egyptian border crossing in Rafah. Some 15 German officials – 10 federal police and five customs officials – took part in the original mission. It began after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip but ended in June 2007 when Hamas rose to power and the border crossing was closed. Four EUBAM officials remain in Israel, but are stationed in Tel Aviv.
German officials said the mission could be reactivated within days, if so wished, but that details remained to be clarified.
Britain for its part has recommended an international verification and monitoring mission for Gaza to prevent Hamas from rearming and preparing fresh rocket attacks and ensuring that Israel gradually eases restrictions on access to Gaza.
In this scheme, the Palestinian Authority should be a party to any cease-fire agreement and should have a clear presence on Gaza's borders as part of any deal.
EU foreign ministers will likely discuss the Gaza situation when they hold an informal meeting under Italian presidency at the end of August.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip since 2007, is on the EU’s list of terrorist organizations.

by Yossi Lempkowicz