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Finding common ground over the sea By Yossi Melman Tags: NATO, Israel News A NATO request to Israel to supply a ship to participate in patrol missions in the Mediterranean to prevent arms smuggling and the transport of terrorist is just one of a growing number of joint ventures between the two. The initiative, called Active Endeavor Operation, is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization force that operates far out at sea and is authorized to monitor suspicious ships. The force may board them, if necessary by force, to investigate whether they are transporting arms or other military equipment to terror organizations, rebel groups, or boycotted countries, like Iran. Israel has conditioned its participation, which would allocate a ship with an Israeli crew under the command of NATO, on the availability of a suitable ship and on budgetary considerations. Advertisement The request is another example of the increasing cooperation between Israel and NATO. Last week, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi participated in a meeting of army heads at the organization's Brussels headquarters. More importantly, a liaison officer from the Israel Navy has also been stationed at the NATO base in Naples, Italy. Because Israel is located on the Mediterranean, the navy serves as a spearhead in cementing relations. The relationship also stems from the NATO decision, 12 years ago, to conduct a "dialogue" with Mediterranean countries, which over the years has also included Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania and Jordan (even though it does not border the Mediterranean). "Progress in relations was slow," admitted Michael Zantovsky, the energetic Czech Republic ambassador to Israel, whose country has been serving for the last four years as a liaison to the various countries participating in the dialogue. "The political and military establishment in Israel believed that their close relations with the United States were sufficient and important, and that there is no need for a connection with NATO." Zantovsky pointed to the army's desire to move freely as a key roadblock in establishing the connection. "In Israel, and mainly in the Israel Defense Forces, they were afraid that too close a relationship would undermine Israel's military freedom of action during a conflict and there was also a fear about exchanging intelligence information," he said, adding that NATO was also hesitant about closer ties to Israel. "In NATO they were afraid of close contact with Israel because of the organization's basic philosophy of staying away from countries engaged in conflict." Zantovsky, who also served as press secretary and personal friend to former president Vaclav Havel and served as the Czech ambassador to Washington, said that in the end "Israel's attitude changed. Israel demonstrated an interest in practical issues of cooperation, including joint maneuvers, scientific research and academic exchanges." In time, the mutual - but mainly Israeli - suspicion and lack of trust disappeared and was replaced by an understanding that the two sides have common interests. Israel Navy ships also participated in joint maneuvers with NATO-member navies, NATO ships arrived for maneuvers and visits at the ports of Haifa in April 2008 and Eilat April and October 2007. AWACs early warning planes used by the organization landed at an Israel Air Force base in Lod a year ago. The glue strengthening the growing relationship between the two sides is a fear of Iran's military power and the struggle against international terror. An Israeli source who is an expert on the subject says that in NATO there is a growing recognition that Iran's nuclear program and missiles could constitute a threat not only to Israel, the gulf states and Iran's neighbors, but to Europe as well, in the final analysis. In light of this, there is growing intelligence cooperation in regard to Iran and an exchange of assessments about terror organizations. "Israel considers NATO a strategic ally in the international battle against terror," IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi told a group of NATO heads about a week ago. He emphasized the already existing cooperation in the areas of intelligence, rescue missions, humanitarian assistance, border defense, logistics and medicine, and said that "Israel is interested in increasing its security cooperation with the alliance as a whole and with each member separately." That is exactly why at the beginning of next year the Dutch secretary general of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, will be coming for a second visit to Israel. The first took place in 2005. Zantovsky points to Sweden as a model as how far Israel's cooperation can go. Although it adheres to its policy of neutrality, Sweden maintains close relations with NATO, does not hesitate to participate in maneuvers and military planning, allows NATO forces to train in its territory, but is not included in Article 5 of the organization's 1949 charter, which states that an attack on any member is considered to be an attack on all. What are the chances of developing the Swedish model in NATO's relations with Israel? "A look at the relationship is reminiscent of the classical example of the glass half-full," Zantovsky said. " Relations today are closer than what they were a few years ago, and I estimate that they will gradually become stronger, because that is very useful for both sides. NATO continually repeats that the path to increased cooperation is open to Israel." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Who's missing? Haredi parties absent from Jerusalem coalition for first time in decades. 'Kavosh 2' Amid nuclear tensions, Iran says it successfully launched rocket.

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