Bonn appeals for Middle East peace .
BONN 1996-08-30
The German government urged Israelis and Palestinians on Friday to avoid any course of action that might jeopardise the peace process in the Middle East .
Israel announced this week the expansion of Jewish West Bank settlements surrounding Jerusalem and the demolition of an Arab community centre in East Jerusalem .
City officials there said the centre was being erected illegally .
But Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said the moves by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's government were tantamount to war .
Tension has been rising in the region since .
" We believe that the Israeli settlement policy in the occupied areas is an obstacle to the establishment of peace , " German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Erdmann said .
" All concerned must avoid taking any course of action that could pose an obstacle to the peace process and which could make a peaceful solution difficult , " he said , as news came of a renewed breakdown in Arab-Israeli peace talks in Jerusalem .
Erdmann told reporters Bonn supported European Union efforts to persuade Israel to stop further Jewish settlement on the West Bank .
The foreign ministry later announced Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy would visit Bonn for talks with his German counterpart Klaus Kinkel next month .
The ministry said Levy and Kinkel would discuss the Middle East process and German-Israeli relations at their meeting on September 9 .
Levy 's visit would be the first by an Israeli cabinet minister since Netanyahu 's conservative government took power in une this year , the ministry said .
Before Levy 's arrival in Bonn , German Defence Minister Volker Ruehe will visit Israel from September 2 to 4 , the defence ministry said .
Ruehe planned to meet his Israeli counterpart Yitzhak Mordechai and Israeli President Ezer Weizman , the ministry said .
He was also expected to meet Prime Minister Netanyahu and opposition leader Shimon Peres for talks .