The Joe Biden administration has called on Italy to send military forces to Gaza and the occupied West Bank ahead of a ceasefire, purportedly to train Palestinian police forces.
The Italian defense minister, Guido Crosetto, has said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken contacted him personally with the request of sending Italy’s Carabinieri military police to the occupied territories.
The Minister reported to the parliamentary defense committee the request by Blinken to send 200 Carabinieri troops to Jericho, also known as Arīḥā, in the occupied West Bank. Crosetto claims the deployment is aimed at training the Palestinian police forces.
“There is no ceasefire in Gaza. I couldn’t even imagine sending our police force there,” adding: “An Italian mission in the West Bank should be approved by all parties involved, and conditions are simply not there.
Alberto Negri, a geopolitical analyst, said: “Blinken’s request seems to me nonsensical. He is not in any position to negotiate with whomever [sic] in the region.”
Italy’s Carabinieri are a police force with a military statute operating jointly under the country’s Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior. Crosetto has noted that security conditions must be assessed prior to sending an Italian police force contingent to the occupied territories.
Federico De Renzi, an Italian expert in military affairs, said: “What is very serious, besides Blinken’s request, which I find utterly inappropriate, is that Italy’s contingent is that UNIFIL, United Nation Peacekeeping and Training Mission to Lebanon, cannot do the job they are there for because Israel has repeatedly fired on UNIFIL positions.”
Italy and Israel have recently held talks in al-Quds, during which Rome has proposed creating a buffer zone with a reinforced contingent of UN peacekeepers on the border between Lebanon and the occupied territories.
While earlier this month, Italy’s defense minister said that Israeli attacks on the positions of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon could be war crimes, he has not been able to utter a single word of condemnation for Tel Aviv’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and crimes in the occupied West Bank.
