Germany's minister of defense, Franz Josef Jung, says he "judges very very skeptically" the Mecca agreement between Hamas and Fatah in regards to its attitude toward Israel.

"We cannot accept the non-recognition of the state of Israel," the minister told a German-Jewish study conference sponsored by the Bertelsmann Foundation in Berlin Monday night.

Minister Jung, a leader of the CDU, said that in general he felt the Mecca agreement was a favorable development.

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His aides said later that Germany's position was that the agreement would be tested in the implementation.

On Iran, Jung pledged that Germany "must do everything possible to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons... our efforts are directed toward a diplomatic solution... we can see developments already [in response to the sanctions imposed on Iran]. The more Iran is isolated, the more progress we shall see if we continue the step-by-step implementation of international sanctions."

Jung declined an invitation from an Israeli participant to declare categorically that the military option was "not off the table." Earlier in the day the chairman of the SPD (Social Democratic Party), Kurt Beck, insisted repeatedly that "the military option is not on the table," but a leading foreign affairs spokeman for the CDU, Eckart Von Klaeden, insisted with equal vehement that the military option was on the table. The two parties serve together under Chancellor Angela Merkel's "grand coalition."

Defense Minister Jung praised his naval forces' work controlling the seas off Lebanon. He maintained that this arm of UNIFIL was fully effective in preventing arms smuggling for Hezbollah.