German FM heads for talks with Israeli, Palestinian leaders
Frank-Walter Steinmeier to meet Abbas on Saturday, Netanyahu on Sunday
BERLIN, Germany — Germany’s foreign minister will travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories at the weekend for talks with leaders on both sides amid surging tensions, a spokesman said Friday.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier aims to get a first-hand picture after recent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces, a situation in which the “peace process isn’t really advancing”, the spokesman told reporters.
He is due to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other officials in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Saturday.
He is then scheduled to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several other ministers, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the following day, the spokesman added.
Months-long unrest in east Jerusalem has spread to theWest Bank and Arab communities across Israel in recent days, raising fears of a new Palestinian uprising.
Some of the unrest in Jerusalem has been focused on Israeli plans to step up building activity in the city’s eastern sector and by religious tensions at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews. Palestinian leaders have used inflammatory language to warn against Israeli plans to change the status quo and allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount — something Israel has denied. Six Israelis have been killed in Palestinian terrorist attacks in recent weeks.