Israel has proposed extending its ties with NATO to include co-operation in areas such as fighting terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction, its envoy in discussions with the alliance said.
The proposals do not include talk of Israeli membership of NATO or any role for the alliance in solving the Middle East conflict. But they are seen as a big step for a country which in the past has been wary of ties to multilateral institutions.
"What Israel wants to see is to what extent NATO can give us a positive response," Oded Eran, the Israeli envoy to the European Union in Brussels, told Reuters yesterday.
"We want to see progress across a broad front," he said in an interview of proposals he presented recently to NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Alliance sources said de Hoop Scheffer will discuss the plan with Israeli leaders during a Feb. 24 visit to the country, two days after a NATO summit with President George W. Bush in Brussels at which the Middle East will feature prominently.
Sources familiar with the debate say backers of closer NATO ties with Israel include the United States, Britain and a number of central and east European states. France, with close Arab ties, is among those seen as less enthusiastic.
The move may prompt concern among Israel 's neighbours but NATO stresses that it does not see any cooperation harming the closer ties it is also seeking with six Arab states - Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
Widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern state to have nuclear weapons, Israel has voiced growing alarm about the possibility of Iran developing an atomic bomb and has been looking for help to try to prevent that risk.