Israel suggests NATO as peacekeeping force

Germany: ‘I can‘t see it’
NATO officials said it would be difficult for the alliance to enlist the estimated 10,000 troops needed initially to secure a cease-fire. They pointed to the alliance’s existing commitments, such as Afghanistan and Kosovo, which will soon draw more than 40,000 troops from member countries.

Although the alliance has a substantial command structure, which would lead any expeditionary force in the region, it depends almost entirely on voluntary contributions of troops and equipment from member states.

Major contributors to past NATO deployments have been noncommittal on whether they would participate in any mission in Lebanon, perhaps as a reaction to the escalating guerrilla war in Afghanistan.

“At the moment, I can’t see it,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said Tuesday after meeting with his French and Polish counterparts that a cease-fire must first be in place. “With or without German troops, the question of whether there is a peace mission will only come once there is a cease-fire,” Jung said.

U.S. ruled out presence
Washington already has ruled out participating in a multinational force, since a U.S. presence would likely serve as a lightning rod for attacks by militants of all stripes.

Dutch and Austrian officials have also balked at sending troops.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official spokesman expressed hope that the Middle East conference opening Wednesday in Rome will produce an agreement in principle on setting up a stabilization force.

But he said questions such as the force’s composition and mandate could be worked out later.

If NATO governments agree to a role for the alliance in Lebanon, military planners would have to take into account that it is ill-equipped to engage irregular forces such as the Hezbollah militants.

In Afghanistan, for example, the Taliban-led insurgency is now said to be as active as at any time since the 2002 invasion of that country, despite the deployment of upward of 12,000 NATO troops in the country.

In Bosnia and Kosovo, where the alliance deployed over 100,000 soldiers in the 1990s, strict adherence by the warring sides to the peace accords ensured the success of those missions. Still, NATO failed to act when violence did erupt, such as the mass riots by ethnic Albanians in 2004 in which 19 minority Serbs died.

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