Senior Israeli defense officials on Tuesday told The Jerusalem Post that they firmly oppose any plan to insert NATO peacekeepers into Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank").
The remarks came less than a day after US President-elect Barack Obama announced General (ret.) James Jones as his national security advisor.
Jones, a former NATO commander, most recently served as special US security envoy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a position he used to put forward his plan of deploying NATO peacekeepers to the area.
Israeli officials noted that every time the international community has deployed peacekeepers in the Israeli-Arab conflict, terrorism has increased as the Israeli army's operational freedom decreased.
One officer explained that "there is a need for continuous combat, and NATO will not want to endanger its soldiers on behalf of Israeli citizens."