Berlin - Israel's right to live within secure borders is a "fixed pillar" of German foreign policy. German chancellors and foreign ministers routinely begin comments on the Jewish state with these words.

Highlighting this commitment, Germany has for example joined the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in attempting to pressure Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment programme - Israel's most pressing security concern.

Frequent Comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in which he called for "wiping Israel off the map" or in which, one year earlier, he denied the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews during World War II are met in Berlin with a blend of astonishment and contempt.

However, Germany attitudes are more nuanced when it comes to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has regular telephone contact with President Mahmoud Abbas and is firmly supportive of his attempts to bring order to the West Bank.

When Abbas visited Berlin in February last year, she stressed the need for the Palestinians to abide by the three key principles of the internationally brokered negotiations for peace in the Middle East: recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence, and acceptance of previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

And that means "Hamas as well," she said, referring to the Palestinian militant movement which took over the Gaza Strip by force in June 2007 and has continued attacks on Israel.

Germany, largely through the European Union, is a major contributor to attempts to alleviate living conditions in the Palestinian territories.

However, an undertone of exasperation can be heard from German officials at the destruction caused by Israeli military action - such as during the 2006 Lebanon War, in which thousands of Lebanese civilians were killed, or ongoing Israeli raids on Gaza also causing civilian deaths, including a 14-year old girl only two weeks ago.

But when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited Berlin in February this year, Merkel firmly refused to criticize Israel's ongoing blockade of Gaza and restriction of electricity supplies.

"I know that the humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip is difficult, and we are trying to help in this regard where we can," she said.

"But the simplest answer is that the targeting of the Israeli state, the terrorist activities must be ended," she added, accusing Hamas of carrying out its actions "on the backs" of the ordinary Palestinians living there.

Germany is also a firm backer of the Annapolis process initiated by US President George W Bush in November 2007 and aimed at resolving the conflict on the basis of a two-state solution by the end of this year.

"Everything must be done to make use of this limited window of opportunity, and we are absolutely of one mind with Israel on this," Merkel said when she met Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Berlin in late April.
German relations with Israel's hostile neighbour Syria are decidedly cool.

Merkel and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have reiterated the course of isolation towards Damascus, in agreement with international critics slamming Syria for undermining Middle East peace efforts.

Steinmeier referred to Syria's role in Lebanon where the pro- Syrian Hezbollah has been locked in a power battle with the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, preventing the election of a new president to succeed Emile Lahoud who stepped down in November 2007.

By contrast, German relations with Egypt and Jordan, Arab neighbours that have reached an understanding with Israel, are cordial.

Top-level contacts between Germany and Israel date back at least to Konrad Adenauer's visit to David Ben Gurion at his Sde Boker kibbutz in southern Israel in 1966, a year after diplomatic relations were established between Israel and West Germany.

The site of that historic meeting between the first German chancellor and the first Israeli prime minister - men who were effectively the political founding fathers of their two countries - was Merkel's first stop on her visit last month.

Although the terrible history of the Holocaust hangs over every meeting between German and Israeli leaders, however, the two countries also share the experience of young statehood.

Modern Germany is, in fact, almost exactly a year younger than Israel, with the constitution of the Federal German Republic coming into effect in May 1949.

And Merkel's 60th anniversary visit to Israel was much more than symbolic as it marked the launch of annual inter-governmental consultations at the highest level, alternately in Israel and Germany.

Germany has had consultations at this level only with European countries in the past - a clear signal of German commitment to Israel's future. (dpa)