BERLIN (AFP) — Germany's foreign minister will tour the Middle East next week seeking to lend momentum to US President Barack Obama's drive to jumpstart the dormant peace process, a spokesman said Friday.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit Israel and meet Palestinian officials in the West Bank on Monday before holding talks in Syria and Lebanon on Tuesday.
"We have had new momentum in the Middle East peace process since the new government took office in Washington and support its fresh efforts to reach a two-state solution and a return to negotiations," a ministry spokesman, Andreas Peschke, told a regular government news conference.
He noted the crucial role neighbouring countries must play in the process and said Germany saw several rays of hope in the region including the peaceful elections in Lebanon June 7 and improved relations between Lebanon and Syria -- factors that present a "window of opportunity."
Peschke said Germany was pursuing a Middle East policy, in close consultations with its European partners and the United States, that moved away from "slogans" and focused on practical assistance on the ground.
Such steps include development assistance for the Palestinians and training for security forces in the territories to help prepare for eventual statehood. Steinmeier will assess the progress of such projects while in the West Bank.
Steinmeier, who is challenging Chancellor Angela Merkel in a general election in September, faced criticism in the past from the chancellery and the United States for his efforts to engage Syria.
But the Obama administration has dramatically softened the US stance toward Syria, and said Wednesday it would send an ambassador back to Damascus after a four-year hiatus amid a region-wide drive to lay the groundwork for Middle East peace.
In another sign of the detente, Obama last month sent his Middle East envoy George Mitchell to Syria to hold talks with President Bashar al-Assad.
During his brief stop in Damascus, Steinmeier will meet his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem as well as Assad.
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