Gaza in frame as NATO chief heads to Israel

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will visit Israel at the weekend for talks on regional security, which are expected to include the Gaza crisis.

De Hoop Scheffer will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak during the visit on Sunday and Monday, a NATO statement said on Friday.

The NATO spokesman said the visit, which will follow a January 9-11 stop in Jordan, was scheduled long before the current Gaza crisis, although the subject was expected to be discussed.

De Hoop Scheffer said last Saturday the 26-nation Western military alliance could help stabilize the Middle East if a broad peace deal was eventually reached, but that remained a distant prospect.

The NATO chief told Dutch radio that deployment of a NATO peace force would be conditional on Israel and Arab states requesting an international military presence to implement the peace. "Unfortunately we're a long way from that," he said.

De Hoop Scheffer said Israel must take steps to achieve peace, calling its settlements in occupied Palestinian territories "indefensible." But he also said Hamas must stop rocket fire.

Israel pushed ahead with its two-week-old offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, defying a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Diplomats said Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire appeared to have run into trouble on Friday because of disagreements with Israel over how to secure the border to prevent Hamas from rearming.

The NATO chief's Middle East trip will take place under the auspices of the alliance's Mediterranean Dialogue, which was launched in 1994 with the aim of enhancing regional security.

The forum currently involves seven non-NATO countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

(Editing by Jon Boyle