from MIDDLE EAST | 18.01.2010

Israel and Germany hold historic joint cabinet session in Berlin

Ties with Germany are important, says Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu

Members of the German and Israeli governments are meeting for a joint cabinet session in Berlin on Monday. It is the first time that an Israeli government has convened in Berlin and security issues will top the agenda.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived with top ministers in Berlin on Monday to hold a joint cabinet meeting with the German government, where security and other issues will be discussed and the bond between the two countries will be underlined in the wake of the Holocaust.

Israel attaches "great importance" to its historic ties with Germany, Prime Minister Netanyahu said ahead of the trip, adding that they had "a very important impact on Israel's security."

The special cabinet session is to be headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Netanyahu. Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are among the members of the Israeli cabinet who are participating in the one-day trip.

Talks at the Berlin chancellery are to cover a broad range of issues, including security issues, Iran's nuclear ambitions, development projects, the environment and efforts to restart the Middle East peace process.

German efforts to broker a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement for an Israeli soldier held captive inside the Gaza Strip since 2006 are also expected to be on the agenda.

A joint visit to the Holocaust Memorial in central Berlin is scheduled for later in the day.

Monday's session in Berlin is the second German-Israeli cabinet meeting. The first was held in Jerusalem in 2008, 43 years after the two nations established diplomatic ties.

Security forces

Avi Primor, a former Israeli Ambassador to Germany, has urged Germany to take the initiative for the creation of joint European security forces in the Middle East.

"It is clear what an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord must look like," Primor told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper in an interview published on Monday.

Avi Primor urges stronger German involvement in the peace process

"The problem is that no one is prepared to guarantee Israel's main need: the country's security if it pulls out of the West Bank. An international partner has to take on that task."

Primor said that for domestic political reasons, it was not likely that the Americans would consider such a move - unless they had a reliable partner. The former Israeli diplomat said that could only be the European Union.

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Editor: Kyle James /dw