By David Harris

Reports in the Israeli media this week suggest that Israel is looking forward to participation in several key exercises and operation with NATO and individual NATO members during the remainder of 2009.

However, this seems to be only part of plans for a much broader gradual integration into NATO by Israel.

The role Israel can play is also understood to be under discussion in the corridors of NATO headquarters this week, as the organization's top brass meets to consider its future direction. A group of external experts is also helping NATO shape its policies.

Prepartion for attack on Iran??

Some reports suggest Israel's desire to cooperate with NATO and to upgrade its operational exercises is Israel's further preparation for any attack on Iran.

A comment by US Vice President Joe Biden has also added to the rumor mill regarding Israel's thinking on Iran. "Israel can determine for itself -- it's a sovereign nation -- what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else," Biden told ABC on Sunday.

Israel's official policy is that it would prefer to see a negotiated settlement to the controversial Iran nuclear issue. However, it has also made it clear both under this administration and that of the previous Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that all options are on the table.

Logistically, any Israeli attack on Iran faces at least one major hurdle. Western intelligence believes Iran has at least 20 nuclear facilities. While the West speaks publicly of its concerns regarding one or two nuclear sites, behind closed doors many more locations are being monitored.

That means any Israeli or other attack on Iran would have to target numerous facilities at once. That type of mission takes an incredible amount of planning and coordination.

Israel has been planning for that possibility for some time. A year ago, some 100 Israel Air Force planes flew over Greece in what was seen as a practice run for a strike against Iran.

The idea of an Israeli presence in or alongside NATO to "contain Iran" is not new. "We must recognize that the threat Israel faces is qualitatively different, as is our security commitment to that country," former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Ronald D. Asmus wrote in The Washington Post back in February 2006.

Value added in cooperation

However, Israeli experts are playing down the role of NATO in the Iranian-Israeli stand-off.

"Of course this has an effect but it is certainly not the main reason for closer ties with NATO," said Yiftah Shapir, who heads the strategic balance program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Israel is understood to want to combine with NATO in maritime activities in the Mediterranean in a bid to prevent arms from reaching Gaza and also to stop any attempts to transport weapons of mass destruction.

The Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on Monday that Israel wants to join Operation Active Endeavor. Focused on the Mediterranean, the operation describes itself as playing an anti-terrorism role. Some non-NATO members are already on board and Israel hopes to add its name later in the year.

"No one in Israel has any aspirations about full membership of NATO," said Shapir.

The founding covenant of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949, makes clear that members must be European, which rules out Israel, said Eitan Barak of the Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Moreover, all 27 member states need to approve any new membership, something Israel is currently far from achieving.

However, there is clearly value added in increased cooperation with NATO. "It puts Israel in with the 'good guys'," said Barak.

Israel has both much to learn from NATO but also a great deal to contribute. There is mutual appreciation of the skills garnered through years of practical experience. One of the key areas of cooperation is widely assumed to be in intelligence work. It is a topic neither party is prepared to discuss openly, but it is thought the pair work closely in the realms like anti-terrorism.

Certain issues that NATO has dealt with, or with which it has continued involvement on the surface bear no relation to Israel. Kosovo and Afghanistan are distant from Israel, yet certainly in the latter case, Israel feels it has much to learn and possibly to impart.

The threat of terrorism that emanates from Afghanistan sees both Europe and Israel as targets. Here intelligence coordination between various states and international bodies is critical and Israel wants to be a central player in such work.

Where relations head

Despite the cooperation, political pressures mean closer Israeli integration into NATO happens very slowly. Israel's ongoing conflict with the Palestinians and the wider Arab world mean some distance is put between the two by NATO, publicly at least.

It is difficult to ascertain just how integral a part of NATO Israel would like to be. Becoming a full member demands active participation in military operations -- something Israel is unlikely to want to do. It has to deal with enough battles on its own front door without having to send its troops half way around the world.

Despite that, Israel was the first country to sign an Individual Cooperation Program agreement with NATO and since then has contributed to NATO particularly in "science, public diplomacy and armaments cooperation," as the previous NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer put it during a visit to Israel in January.

The then NATO chief himself was unable to estimate where relations were headed but adopted the optimistic note that "as the growing cooperation between Israel and NATO demonstrates, we have every reason to remain optimistic."

NATO's message to Israel is also of a political nature. NATO wants to see an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a wider regional peace. Should those demands be met, Israel's path into full cooperation with NATO would be that much simpler to achieve.

(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2009)