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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: October 29, 2006 |
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Germany's defense minister will go to Israel and Lebanon this week, his ministry said Sunday, a trip that follows an incident last week involving a German ship off the Lebanese coast and Israeli fighter jets.
German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung will meet in Tel Aviv on Friday with his Israeli counterpart, Amir Peretz, a ministry statement said. Also on Friday, he is to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Defense Minister Elias Murr in Beirut.
In mid-October, Germany took charge of the multinational naval force patrolling Lebanon's coastline to prevent arms shipments from reaching Hezbollah guerrillas following the recent conflict with Israel. Jung's visit will include a visit to the German contingent.
Last week, German officials say Israeli jets fired in the air over a German intelligence-gathering ship in international waters. Israel denies that shots were fired and said the planes approached a helicopter after it took off Tuesday from a German ship without notifying Israeli forces.
The Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported that a German naval helicopter was approached on Thursday night by Israeli jets. The German Defense Ministry confirmed that the incident occurred, but said it was not a threatening situation.
"There were certain incidents, which we have discussed with Israel in the appropriate form," Jung was quoted as saying by the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in a preview of an interview to be published Monday.
"Conclusions have been drawn from this for the future. I view the case as closed," he added. |
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