Schroeder heads to Middle East on delicate diplomatic mission

Still, the German leader's visit, shortened amid the surge of violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians, is an attempt to promote European diplomacy in a region where the United States has traditionally acted as broker.
Schroeder will meet with political leaders in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel as well as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Aides say Schroeder will plead for peace but avoid taking sides in what one called a "diplomatic minefield" despite an appeal by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak for him to press Arafat for an end to four weeks of clashes, which have left more than 130 dead and stopped Mideast peacemaking cold.
Michael Steiner, Schroeder's chief foreign policy adviser, said the chancellor would stress Europe's "supporting role" in efforts to revive the peace process.

"We cannot overreach and carry a burden that the Americans are shouldering heavily," Steiner said in a radio interview Saturday.
Germany is Europe's biggest aid donor to the Palestinians and also channels major assistance to other countries in the region. But Steiner said threats of withholding aid would be a "completely wrong" approach.

While Germany has been more assertive in foreign policy since east-west reunification in 1990, some commentators have raised questions about the diplomatic purpose of the Mideast trip. The government is "having difficulty making political sense of the undertaking," said the influential conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said Saturday.

"It is, in fact, easier to say what the trip which starts on Saturday will not achieve," the paper said.
Schroeder's first stop is Cairo. He visits Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday before traveling to Amman, Jordan, and Damascus, Syria, on Monday. Israel is scheduled Tuesday and a meeting with Arafat in Bethlehem on Wednesday.

(ba/AP)