Translated material
NATO is invited to Israel
An unexpected proposal for Condoleezza Rice
There is a new conflict in the Israeli government . The aggravated situation in the Palestinian territories has pitted members of the cabinet against each other, and perhaps this will not be the end of the matter. The reason for the verbal battles was a harsh statement by the Israeli Minister of Strategic Planning, Avigdor Lieberman. After a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is currently visiting the Middle East, the 48-year-old leader of the right-wing Israel Our Home party said that the Israelis should carry out a new military operation in the Gaza Strip, after which 30 -a thousand-strong contingent of NATO forces. This is the only way, according to the minister, to “restore order and stop the complete anarchy reigning in the sector.”Lieberman's statement is fundamentally different from the policy of Israel, which traditionally opposes the deployment of international military forces in the Palestinian territories. The only thing that Israel agreed to in 2005, after long negotiations and with the mediation of Condoleezza Rice, was the deployment of EU observers at the Rafah checkpoint on the border of the Gaza Strip with the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
The US Secretary of State is now a frequent visitor to the Middle East. The last time she was here was at the end of November 2006. This time, in addition to meetings with the Israeli Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the Minister of Defense, she decided to hold negotiations with the new Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Strategic Planning Avigdor Lieberman. His party joined the ruling centrist coalition at the end of October 2006.
There have been no official comments on Lieberman's surprise proposal, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office told Vremya Novostey that Lieberman apparently discussed his personal point of view with Rice, not the country's new strategy. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister, Knesset member from the Labor party Efraim Sneh noted that “the introduction of NATO troops into the Gaza Strip will not be a solution to the conflict, but will only complicate the situation, since Palestinian militants consider the Alliance soldiers to be the same enemies as the Israelis.”