"Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to discuss the idea of the deployment of a NATO force in the region in talks with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Belgium over the weekend, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The idea of a NATO or international force deployed in Gaza has been raised on a number of occasions over the past year, from such diverse sources as Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but has not yet gained much traction......
Traditionally NATO's position was that it would not deploy here until there was a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and does not want to go to Gaza and risk attack from Hamas, which has made clear it would oppose a NATO presence.
However, in recent months the idea of deploying NATO forces in Gaza has been raised as one way of possibly reinstating Abbas there, with the idea that he would "ride in" on NATO's back.
Sources close to Livni said that the idea of NATO "involvement" here, as well as greater Israeli involvement in NATO, would be on Livni's agenda in her talks with the NATO chief......."
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