NATO, which will take over peacekeeping in Afghanistan and help new member Poland police central Iraq, could also play a role in Middle East peace efforts, the alliance's chief said Tuesday.

Some of the NATO foreign ministers gathering here suggested such a role for the alliance's troops if the latest peace drive led by U.S. President Bush succeeds in ending violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

Lord Robertson, the alliance secretary-general, and U.S. officials insisted there were no concrete plans for NATO intervention in the Middle East - but, Robertson added, "NATO should not rule itself out of that equation."

Even raising the issue underscored a fundamental switch in alliance thinking to tackle security threats way beyond its heartland in Europe and North America.

"We're not going to be some sort of global policeman, but we're not going to be a European beat policeman either," Robertson told a news conference. "We've got to go where the threats are."

The main focus of the two-day meeting was on moving forward past the deep divisions opened by the U.S.-led war in Iraq. France, Germany and Belgium opposed military action in Iraq, sparking the deepest rift in the alliance in years.

At the same time, NATO is trying to carve out a role beyond the strictly European one envisoned for it when it was set up after World War II to protect the continent from a Soviet invasion.

On the eve of the meeting, the 19 NATO allies approved plans to give logistical and intelligence to help Poland put together a multinational force of 7,000 -- due to deploy to central Iraq by August.

"It was a very important decision ... proving that NATO is ready to operate out of area," said Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz. "What we have seen in the last couple of weeks is a genuine desire for reconciliation."

NATO will also take command of the 5,000-strong international force in Kabul beginning Aug. 11 - the alliance's first operation outside Europe or North America.

NATO officials say those missions show the continued relevance of an alliance set up to fight the Cold War, even though the Soviet Union is gone. The pst Cold War threats, which NATO can meet, are terrorism, failed states and weapons of mass destruction, they said.

Ministers also pointed to the ease with which the decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan were made as showing how the alliance has recovered from the divisions over the Iraq war.

"I think NATO is well on the way to recovery," U.S. Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman said going into the meeting.

Grossman represented the United States at the NATO talks as Secretary of State Colin Powell accompanied Bush on his Middle East peace mission.

"There is a new sense of unity," Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou said.

Some differences remained apparent. U.S. officials said proposals for the European Union to take over the NATO peacekeeping mission in Bosnia next year were "premature."

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