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Last update - 00:00 10/07/2009
German FM: Settlements remain obstacle to peace
By Reuters and DPA
Tags: Frank-Walter Steinmeier 

Chances for peace in the Middle East are better than at any time in the past 15 years, but Israeli settlements remain an obstacle, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Friday.

"A solution has to be found ... but a solution will not be found as long as the settlements continue to be expanded, Steinmeier told foreign journalists in Berlin.

The minister said he was encouraged by Israel's "careful acceptance" of a two-state solution, adding the Jewish state needed guarantees of security from its neighbors, particularly the Palestinians.
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Steinmeier, who earlier this week returned from a visit to the region, his 14th since taking office in 2005, urged other states in the Middle East to play a role in the peace process.

A "historic window" was open he said, and if the states involved held back for "tactical reasons" the opportunity could be lost.

The minister was referring to Syria, among other countries, which he visited on Tuesday and met with President Hafez al-Assad.

However, the two leaders were unable to come to agreement about a resumption of Israeli-Syrian contacts, which were suspended after Israel's military assault on the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

These latest remarks come after Steinmeier made similar remarks a few months ago said in a joint interview with the German Press Agency dpa and German daily Sueddeutsche.

Then, Germany's foreign minister that that it was "not acceptable" to found new settlements or expand existing ones in East Jerusalem or the West Bank.

Both the German and U.S. governments agreed on this point, the foreign minister added.

Steinmeier called for new efforts in the Middle East peace process, and also said he believed the European Union and U.S. President Barack Obama's administration needed to "speak with one voice."


West Bank cannot be 'Judenrein`

Earlier today Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported to have the Nazi term 'Judenrein' in a recent meeting with the German foreign minister to condemn the Palestinian demand that West Bank settlements be removed, a confidant of the premier said.

"Judea and Samaria cannot be Judenrein," the confidant quoted the prime minister as telling Frank-Walter Steinmeier earlier this week.

Asked how Germany's top diplomat responded to hearing the term used by the Nazis to refer to areas "cleansed of Jews", the confidant said, "What could he do? He basically just nodded."


According to the confidant, Netanyahu had encouraged cabinet colleagues to deploy the term in their defense of the settlements and of Israel's insistence that Palestinians recognize it as a Jewish state.

Israel is facing unprecedented U.S. pressure to dismantle settlements to make way for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, an area also known to Jews as Judea and Samaria.

Briefing foreign reporters last week, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor urged them to ask whether "Palestinians would accept that Jews will live among them, or whether it is going to be totally not allowed".

"'Judenrein' is the term that was once used in other countries," Meridor said, in remarks echoed the next day by another Likud minister who briefed journalists and diplomats.

But some Israeli officials, including former ambassador to Washington Zalman Shoval, have expressed misgivings about using the term.

"I don't like to transfer the trappings of Nazis to others, even if they are our enemies," Shoval said.

What was being branded as the Palestinians' bigotry, he said, could also be prudence about steps that might pre-judge disputes such as those over Palestinian refugees from Israel.

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      1.   "rein" 20:26  |  Anthony 09/07/09
      2.   "he just nodded" 20:28  |  Anthony 09/07/09
      3.   Yikes!!! 20:32  |  Student 09/07/09
      4.   He should look at his cabinet 20:41  |  Dave Duncan 09/07/09
      5.   Judenrein 20:49  |  Ted 09/07/09
      6.   Lebensraum not Judenrein 21:04  |  Roger 09/07/09
      7.   Aryan state 21:05  |  Nico Mavelli 09/07/09
      8.   In that case 21:13  |  Chris Linthwaite 09/07/09
      9.   Judenrein 21:16  |  ray 09/07/09
      10.   This guy wants a "jewish state" 21:20  |  Harold 09/07/09
      11.   Bibi Doesn`t Get the Difference 21:55  |  Mark of Lewiston 09/07/09
      12.   Judea and Samaria are JEWISH land, not Arab 22:07  |  David 09/07/09
      13.   Good to learn that Jews were just moved into new houses 22:09  |  binny 09/07/09
      14.   judenrein 00:31  |  aharaon 10/07/09
      15.   Nethanyahu deserves a thorough beating! 00:36  |  Magnus K 10/07/09
      16.   That is not Democratic 00:51  |  me 10/07/09
      17.   Good for Netanyahu 00:56  |  Jason 10/07/09
      18.   harsh but accurate 01:12  |  David 10/07/09
      19.   All enemies Nazis all critics anti semites 01:25  |  Roo 10/07/09
      20.   What is he trying to say? 01:51  |  Jan 10/07/09
      21.   NETANYAHU, BUT "NON-JUDEN-REIN" IS GREAT, ISN`T IT! 01:59  |  Monitor 10/07/09
      22.   Re: #6 and Terminology 02:29  |  Ted 10/07/09
      23.   Fayyad said they could stay--could he have been LYING? 02:30  |  IW 10/07/09
      24.   Netanyahu`s true colours?? 02:46  |  Abby 10/07/09
      25.   #16 me 02:58  |  Moseson 10/07/09
      26.   Netanyahu in his increasing detachment from reality 02:59  |  Chris Linthwaite 10/07/09
      27.   Sad commentary on the state of the settlements 03:05  |  Rick 10/07/09
      28.   good for netanyahu for stating the obvious 03:14  |  Connie 10/07/09
      29.   #15 Magnus K., Yesterday you defended the decision for a monument 03:28  |  Israeli Observer 10/07/09
      30.   Harold 04:01  |  Michelle 10/07/09
      31.   Me from US 04:10  |  Michelle 10/07/09
      32.   Anthony 04:18  |  Michelle 10/07/09
      33.   Oh dear, oh dear. Bibi thinks this is a good idea, does he? 04:28  |  Johnboy 10/07/09
      34.   number 16 04:33  |  me 2 10/07/09
      35.   Mark of Lewiston 04:38  |  Jasper 10/07/09
      36.   Israel Foreign Policy 11:01  |  Fritz 10/07/09
      37.   Roger (6) put in historical context you are as wrong as Bibi got 11:43  |  Jew-and Bookburner 10/07/09
      38.   Funny from a guy who supports "ARABREIN" settlements. 12:20  |  Labhras 10/07/09
      39.   Just how ignorant is this man? he makes bush look good 12:20  |  Ezra 10/07/09
      40.   Yes, Magnus, Germans always had Norwegian sympathisers 12:24  |  nina 10/07/09
      41.   Settlements 12:27  |  Shimon Har-Even 10/07/09
      42.   Bibi got the impossible he made lieberman look less racist 12:30  |  Marion Levy 10/07/09
      43.   Racism 12:31  |  h 10/07/09
      44.   Connie Israel thinks in Nazi terms. 12:35  |  miriam 10/07/09
      45.   # 18 david 12:38  |  Axel 10/07/09
      46.   Disgusting remarks 12:49  |  Froy 10/07/09
      47.   Diplomacy and tact 12:59  |  Murray 10/07/09
      48.   #6 13:01  |  Youssef 10/07/09
      49.   Of course Palestine will not be "Judenrein" 13:04  |  Indigenous 10/07/09
      50.   Netanyahu 13:05  |  Ralph 10/07/09
      51.   Netanyahu is right 13:14  |  Brod 10/07/09
      52.   Is it OK for us to compare Bibi and crew to Nazis now? 13:34  |  Michael 10/07/09
      53.   what happend to Israel? 16:36  |  Tony Silver 10/07/09
      54.   what happend to Israel? 16:38  |  Tony Silver 10/07/09
      55.   It is true - the Germans liquidated the bulk of EU Jewry 16:44  |  Euro 10/07/09
      56.   Settlements (occupation) will be linked to Right of Return 17:06  |  Harold 10/07/09
      57.   #45 Axel, Your facts regarding who stayed in 1948 are FALSE 17:57  |  Israeli Observer 10/07/09
      58.   No-state solution 17:59  |  Semite 10/07/09
      59.   Anti semites continued 18:03  |  Dave from Chicago 10/07/09
      60.   #1 18:04  |  Harold 10/07/09
      61.   # 53 israeli observer 18:59  |  Axel 10/07/09
      62.   The Arabs Didn`t Accept Partition in 1948 and Still Don`t 19:17  |  Laguna Geno 10/07/09
      63.   Axel - Israeli Observer is correct 19:23  |  Mark Lincoln 10/07/09
      64.   #12 19:32  |  Anthony 10/07/09
      65.   35 Jasper 2nd try 19:37  |  Mark of Lewiston 10/07/09
      66.   t is better for all world to support Israel. 20:00  |  Vital 10/07/09
      67.   Mark of Lewiston 20:04  |  Reid 10/07/09
      68.   German FM is mistaken 20:19  |  Chaim Ben Kahan 10/07/09
      69.   Axel - Jews have no legitimacy anywhere argument 20:30  |  Reid 10/07/09
      70.   #64 Vital 20:31  |  BDS 10/07/09
      71.   Mark Lincoln on Benny Morris 20:33  |  Yaakov Sullivan 10/07/09
      72.   # 59 mark 20:35  |  Axel 10/07/09
      73.   Indigenous from Nablus - Thanks 20:39  |  Reid 10/07/09
      74.   #59 Mark Lincoln, I appreciate your posts, but 20:44  |  Ardi 10/07/09
      75.   What`s Peace got to do with it? 21:21  |  Mark Lincoln 10/07/09
      76.   German FM is spot on 22:54  |  European 10/07/09
      77.   Settlements are an obstacle to peace? 23:09  |  jerri i 10/07/09
      78.   German response to Bibi`s despicable use of Nazi reference 23:23  |  binny 10/07/09
      79.   I don`t think it is an ethnical discussion, nor a cultural one 23:23  |  christoph 10/07/09
      80.   Ardi one common problem 00:07  |  Mark Lincoln 11/07/09
      81.   2 state solution first and then security? 01:58  |  ameneyman 11/07/09
      82.   miriam 03:55  |  Connnie 11/07/09
      83.   #63 Mark Lincoln; Thank you for your confirming my 04:03  |  Israeli Observer 11/07/09
      84.   anyone care to QUESTION norman finkelstein`s thesis? 04:26  |  eric 11/07/09
      85.   Israeli Observer 04:53  |  Mark Lincoln 11/07/09
      86.   Tony Silver #53: Here is What Happened 05:09  |  Laguna Geno 11/07/09
      87.   The only politically correct way to vent germanic feelings 05:19  |  17 11/07/09
      88.   #22 Ted, Roger is quite correct, and you are completely wrong. 05:50  |  Johnboy 11/07/09
      89.   67 Reid - For Negotiations - 2nd try 07:37  |  Mark of Lewiston 11/07/09
      90.   Israel has an unassailable legal right to establish ... 08:57  |  B. Gold 11/07/09
      91.   #81 09:21  |  Tata 11/07/09
      92.   Regarding nina, post 40: 10:32  |  Cthulhu 11/07/09
      93.   B. Gold 85 Israel has no unsassailable right to apartheid. 11:40  |  Michael 11/07/09
      94.   2-state illusion 12:24  |  semite 11/07/09
      95.   Baruch Gold from Hebron Palestine 85 12:36  |  john Spear 11/07/09
      96.   3 Options in the long run (@ #85) 13:53  |  Jan 11/07/09
      97.   Self-Deception 15:12  |  Hermann Kuntz 11/07/09
      98.   B Gold #85 17:17  |  Veritas 11/07/09
      99.   Settlements 18:37  |  Hope 11/07/09
      100.   #86 Bigots Said The Same When A Black Family Moved To A White 18:39  |  Laguna Geno 11/07/09
      101.   # 87 laguna 22:56  |  Axel 11/07/09
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