German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful said he is optimistic about the future of the Middle East peace plan after meeting with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on Saturday.
Wadeful is in Israel at the end of a Middle East tour, where he also had stops in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Bahrain.
The German Foreign Minister expressed growing confidence in the peace process “to such an extent” that he believes Berlin could revise its travel advisory to Israel, which currently advises against all non-essential travel to the country.
Wadefull said easing restrictions on travel to Israel would help restart dialogue between Israel and Germany.
“This is especially important to me for the younger generation,” he said, expressing disappointment that schoolchildren and especially students are not currently able to travel to Israel.
On the shaky ceasefire in Gaza under the US-sponsored agreement, Wadeful shared his “belief that both sides have the strong will to turn this ceasefire into a sustainable process and ultimately achieve peace.”
Earlier on Saturday, during an appearance at the IISS Manama Dialogue on Security Conference in the Bahraini capital, Wadeful called on Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs and Europeans to work towards implementing a peace plan for the region.
The minister said, “The task now is to give hope to people in the Middle East by ensuring that political action follows broader agreements and declarations of intent.” He said the region’s challenges could only be solved through Europe’s cooperation and collaboration.