NATO will consider sending a stabilisation force to the Middle East only if an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached, the bloc's head said Saturday while stressing this was a remote prospect.
"I would imagine that if such a request was made to NATO, its member states would react positively," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the military alliance's secretary-general, told broadcaster TROS.
But this could be considered only if "there were to be a peace agreement, sanctioned by the UN Security Council, and if Israel and its neighbours were to request a military presence to implement such an agreement".
De Hoop Scheffer, due to step down later this year, told the broadcaster that the prospect of Israeli-Palestinian peace "is unfortunately far off".
He refused to describe the Israeli actions as disproportional, saying its actions were about "survival".
Israeli artillery on Saturday bombarded the Gaza Strip in an escalation of the campaign against Hamas after a week of air attacks which have left more than 450 Palestinians dead.
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