German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Israel on Monday and also visit Lebanon, amid growing concerns about an escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
Baerbock is also expected to highlight Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, the catastrophic humanitarian situation there and efforts to keep alive hopes for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Affairs.
It is Baerbock’s seventh visit to Israel since the bloody terrorist attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vehemently rejected a two-state solution that would give Palestinians a sovereign state, as has Hamas.
According to the spokeswoman, Baerbock will first attend the regular meeting of the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Monday, which will focus on joint support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion and the situation in the Middle East.
In the evening, Baerbock will give a speech at the Herzliya Security Conference being held at Reichman University, not far from the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv.
Talks are scheduled for Tuesday in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa on the situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the PA’s reform efforts.
A meeting with the Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz is planned in Jerusalem.
On Tuesday evening, Baerbock will travel to Lebanon and meet Lebanese Prime Minister Nadschib Mikati in Beirut.
Violent clashes along the Lebanese-Israeli border and the recent Israeli approval of plans for a military offensive in southern Lebanon are expected to be discussed.
