The Foreign Service Journal, May 2006

50 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 6 srael’s withdrawal from Gaza this past August has only sharpened the debate about overall security arrangements between Israel and the Palestinians, who took control of the strip. Israeli fears that the area would be a launching pad for terrorism against Israeli civilians have to some extent been realized. At the same time, Palestinian fears that Gaza would become a prison of sorts, cut off from the West Bank and a much-needed Israeli market, have also become reality. Complicating matters, Tel Aviv has long resisted third party involvement in its security affairs (though in 1997, it reluctantly accept- ed international peace monitors in Hebron), while Palestinians have consistently called for United Nations or other foreign peacekeepers. While it is too early to know how these matters will play out, further burdened by Hamas’ recent victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, it is not too early to consider how security requirements can be supported under an eventual comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. In that regard, the Multinational Force and Observers is a model worth considering. The MFO came about in 1982 as a mechanism for implementing the 1979 Egypt-Israeli Peace Treaty, the cornerstone of peace agreements in the Middle East. For nearly a quarter-century, the force and observers have quietly and effectively supervised the treaty’s security arrangements and employed best efforts to prevent viola- tions of its terms. By taking the Sinai battleground “off the table,” it has played an essential partnership role in helping to build confidence, stability and peace between Egypt and Israel, and thereby served as a useful policy tool for the United States. Peacekeepers, Not Peacemakers It is important to note that the Multinational Force and Observers is a peacekeeping operation, not a peacemaker. It is not an instrument for stopping international war, civil war, insurrection, genocide or ethnic cleansing. Also, the MFO is not affiliated with the United Nations or any regional organization. Rather, Egypt and Israel created the organization (with essential U.S. assistance) to help build, consolidate and sustain a climate in which a wider regional peace could be achieved. Thus, the MFO is their creation. It belongs to them. The MFO’s uniqueness and strengths include its inde- P EACE O PERATIONS AS AN I NSTRUMENT OF U.S. P OLICY N EARLY A QUARTER - CENTURY AFTER ITS CREATION , THE M ULTINATIONAL F ORCE AND O BSERVERS IN THE S INAI IS A MODEL WORTH ADAPTING FOR OTHER PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS . I Arthur Hughes is an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. During his Foreign Service career, he served as deputy assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for the Near East and South Asia, deputy chief of mission in Tel Aviv and ambassador to Yemen, among many other positions. Following his retirement from the Service, he served as director general of the Multinational Force and Observers from 1998 to 2004. B Y A RTHUR H UGHES