A former key advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on security policy, Christoph Heusgen, has publicly called on the German government to consider recognizing a Palestinian state. In a contribution to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” published Friday, Heusgen argued that while Israel’s security remains a core tenet of German foreign policy, that security is increasingly undermined by the perception of excessive force and violations of international law.
Heusgen, who also served as Germany’s ambassador to the United Nations, expressed concern over the scale of Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip and ongoing settlement expansion in the West Bank. He voiced fears that former US Secretary of State John Kerry’s prediction of Israel potentially evolving into an apartheid state may be coming to fruition. He criticized the current Netanyahu government for its rejection of a Palestinian state and its perceived support for settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Addressing the question of whether Germany should recognize a Palestinian state in the current climate, Heusgen asserted that recognizing statehood could serve as a diplomatic tool, particularly given the stalled peace negotiations. “It won’t change the situation in the short term” he wrote, “but it will send a strong signal of solidarity with the Palestinian people if we join the majority of states who already do. It would be seen as a particularly strong gesture globally, because Germany is rightly considered a loyal friend of Israel”. He emphasized the symbolic importance of such a move as a means of influencing the political landscape.
