Merkel cancels visit to Palestinian Authority

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has cancelled her scheduled visit to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah which came as part of her visit to the region; Palestinian Al Quds newspaper claimed.

Merkel and her cabinet are scheduled to meet with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and President Shimon Peres today and were scheduled to meet with the Palestinian cabinet in Ramallah.

The paper said the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has declined to comment on the German Chancellor’s last minute decision.

The German Chancellor who adopts a more moderate position than her European counterparts towards the Israeli settlements said earlier that her visit comes to support the peace efforts in the region led by US Secretary of State John Kerry who seeks to draft a framework agreement as the basis for the negotiations between the two sides and to extend the negotiations timeframe for at least a year.

Merkel will encourage the Israelis to adopt a more flexible attitude towards the framework agreement draft promising unprecedented concessions from the EU to Israel and threatening that failure to do so will heighten boycott campaigns; Al Quds newspaper quoted sources as saying.

Merkel and her cabinet will discuss the German-Israeli cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and arms as well as Iran’s nuclear programme and the sanctions imposed on Tehran.

Israel and Germany will sign two agreements during the visit. The first allows Germany to represent Israel’s diplomatic and consular interests in countries where Israel has no diplomatic relation such as Indonesia and Malaysia and where Israeli businessmen are active. The second allows tourists from both countries to stay and work for a period of six months as part of their tourist visa.