Seize rare Mideast chance for peace: German FM

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Saturday urged Middle East players and the international community to seize what he called a rare opportunity for peace.

After touring Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Steinmeier held talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and his counterpart Ziad Abu Amr in the political capital of Ramallah.

He hailed what he called a more constructive attitude from the Arab world on seeking a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

"Realistically one must say that there are opportunities now that were not there in the past, but at the same time the risks are just as high," he told reporters.

"The opportunity lies in the fact that the Arab world is being much more constructive -- the Arab League's decision to renew its peace initiative was more than helpful -- and I am pleased that it was also welcomed by the Israeli government."

Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating presidencies of the European Union and the Group of Eight club of wealthy nations, said the positive momentum now needed to be spurred further with help from the West.

"The European Union is ready with funds, but above all the international Quartet is ready to offer political support," he said, referring to efforts by the United States, the EU, the United Nations and Russia to plot a roadmap for peace.

At a March summit in Riyadh, Arab leaders revived a five-year-old peace plan that offers Israel normal relations if it withdraws from all land seized in the 1967 Middle East war, and allows for the creation of a Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees.

The EU has seized on the initiative as a potential way out of the seemingly intractable conflict. Germany has made advancing the peace process one of the chief goals of its six-month EU presidency.

Palestinian foreign minister Abu Amr urged Steinmeier to work towards ending an international freeze of transfer of funds to the Palestinian government over its refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist and renounce violence.

"I asked his excellency to exert his utmost effort as the German foreign minister and as the president of the European Union to end the siege of the Palestinian people," Abu Amr told reporters after their meeting.

The German foreign minister said it was wrong to speak of a European "boycott" on aid to the Palestinians, however, noting that aid in 2006 had risen markedly compared with the previous year.

Steinmeier on Friday invited several Arab foreign ministers and Arab League chief Amr Mussa to join a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on May 14 to discuss the reinvigorated plan.

Steinmeier arrived in Bethlehem late on Friday and also met Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayyad early on Saturday.

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