German FM Maas to head to Israel with official visit

Michael Kappeler/Pool via APGerman Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, right, and his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio attend a news conference during a meeting at the Foreign Office in Berlin, Germany, June 5, 2020

Maas set to be the first foreign dignitary to visit Israel after new government’s swearing-in

Israel is set to host Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas Wednesday as he is about to head to Jerusalem with an official visit.

He will be the first foreign dignitary to visit the country since its new government was sworn in on May 17; just days before that date, however, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a trip to the Jewish state.

It will also be Maas’ first trip outside the European Union as diplomatic travels were largely suspended due to the onset of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

In Jerusalem, Maas is scheduled to meet his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

The German diplomat will skip a trip to the West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority (PA), due to a lack of time and coronavirus measures, Berlin says.

However, after landing in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Maas is expected to hold a video conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh.

One of the matters set to dominate the visit’s agenda is the possibility fo Israel applying its sovereignty to a number of West Bank areas — a prospect that prompted Shtayyeh to threaten Tuesday that the PA will unilaterally declare a Palestinian state in pre-1967 borders.

The EU has already voiced its opposition to the move, even though the bloc appears to be divided on the matter; earlier on, diplomatic sources were cited as saying that Germany was among those EU states that were unlikely to push for any drastic response to an annexation.

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