German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Middle East tour is intended to show the people and leaders in the region that Germany is with them, a senior foreign policy advisor said Saturday.
"He is going to the region to show that we are not abandoning them," said Michael Steiner in an interview with Radio Deutschland.
"Even though we have reduced expectations, it is still possible to show that we understand," he said.
Schroeder sets out Saturday on a five-nation tour of the Middle East that will also include a stop in the Palestinian territories for top-level talks. He goes to Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Israel.
Steiner also admitted that Germany could probably not achieve a breakthrough in the region given the United States was unable to make headway.
"We cannot take on ourselves what the Americans are having a hard time bearing," he said.
Schroeder will try to calm the situation and contribute to overall European efforts to end weeks of Israeli-Palestinian violence, he added – BERLIN (AFP)
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