NATO should prepare for a role in supporting any future agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Saturday. "We should not shy away from starting to think about a potential role for NATO in supporting a Middle East peace agreement," de Hoop Scheffer told a defence and security conference in the German city of Munich. "If the call comes to NATO, this alliance must be prepared to respond positively and to play its full part," he added in his most detailed public remarks to date on a possible NATO involvement. Any NATO presence would be conditional on there being a peace accord and on the agreement of both sides for the alliance to be involved. It may also require a U.N. mandate, he said. "We are not at a point where an active NATO role is on the cards," he said. De Hoop Scheffer said NATO had something to offer because it was the only body which linked Europe and the United States both politically and militarily. It would also be possible for non-NATO countries to take part in any mission, he said. There has been longstanding speculation over whether the 26-member aliance had a role in any Middle East peace. The issue has risen to the fore again since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a ceasefire at a summit on Tuesday.
