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A former US marine said Wednesday he hoped to garner support from 10,000 Westerners to act as international observers in the Palestinian territories and help bring peace with Israel. The P10K Force will "expose the truth about the conflict and document human rights violation", Ken O'Keefe, who led the "Human Shield" anti-war movement in Iraq during the US-led invasion, told a Jerusalem press conference. "It will effect a ceasefire from the militant Palestinian resistance that uses violence and call for Israel to honor the truce in order to assure security for its citizens," he said, adding he had contacts with hardliners, including the Islamic group Hamas. The 10,000-strong movement, to be financed through donations and to be sent to the Palestinian territories in September, would "compel justice, not vengeance", he said. The observers will use non-violent means in working for the respect of international law, "thereby ending the unlawful (Israeli) occupation", and bringing about peace, he said. O'Keefe said he was confident "the numbers of participants in P10K will swell, possibly beyond 10,000" despite Israel's expulsion of dozens of foreign peace activists since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising. "Everyone is calling for a withdrawal from the Palestinian territories but P10K is set up to do something rather than calling for it," said the heavily-tatooed and eloquent O'Keefe who joined the Marine Corps in 1989, when he was 19. He renounced his US citizenship in 2001 over strong "political disagremeents". O'Keefe, who fought in the 1991 Gulf War, said he would mobilize citizens from Europe and North America because "the truth is that Western nations are responsible for supporting brutal leaderships". He also went on to slam Israel's "occupation that is responsible for violence resistance ... and denial of human rights". Fending off criticism for his pro-Palestinian stance, O'Keefe insisted the movement would "save both Israelis and Palestinians lives" and bring peace to the two peoples. The Palestinians and several European nations have long called for the dispatch of international observers to the West Bank and Gaza to help put an end to the four-year-old intifada. Their calls have remained unheeded owing to the US and Israel's fervent opposition to such a force. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
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