Italy says it would consider sending troops to Gaza

ROME, May 16 (Reuters) Italy would consider sending peacekeepers to the Gaza Strip if the Palestinian government requested help to end factional fighting, Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said today.

But D'Alema called for political pressure, including from the Arab world, to end the fighting between ruling Hamas Islamists and secular Fatah, which has killed at least 40 Palestinians since Friday.

''If the Palestinian Authority asked for international help to guarantee security in Gaza, that could be considered,'' he said.

''Still, I believe that at this moment, one must exercise political pressure on the sides that are clashing that are paradoxically part of the same government.'' Italy is leading the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. D'Alema said last year that if the Lebanon force proved effective, a similar force could be used in Gaza.

D'Alema was speaking after a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, who also condemned the fighting in Gaza during a joint news conference.

''We should condemn in the strongest terms what is going on in Gaza. But we have to be vigilant and not lose sight of the reasons, the root causes,'' Moussa said, mentioning poverty and unemployment.

''(This is) a situation that has been imposed on the Palestinians unjustly and unfairly and led to this agitation in Gaza.'' Reuters BDP DB2134