By Stan Goodenough
Dec 10, 2006
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Friday he would be "very interested" in discussing an Italian proposal that international forces be sent into the Gaza Strip to help bring about an end to the violence emanating from there.
The Israeli is scheduled to visit Rome on Wednesday, there to meet with his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi as well as hold an audience with the pope.
One of Israel's major battles down the years has been to resist efforts to have foreign troops deployed inside the Land of Israel.
For their part, the Palestinian Arabs have fought long and hard to get the international community to intervene in their conflict with Israel.
Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly appealed to the world, which he knows to be overwhemingly pro-Arab, to step in and play an active part in "ending Israeli aggression against our people."