Opinion: Germany Playing Bit Part, Not Starring Role

That's not the way to treat friends. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently described Germany as his country's "best friend" and encouraged it to engage militarily in Lebanon. But when Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier came to explore diplomatic solutions, Olmert kept him waiting while his government decided to greatly expand Israel's offensive in southern Lebanon.

Even the United States -- in all likelihood a much greater "friend" of Israel's -- was apparently surprised by the Israeli cabinet's decision. Internationally, the chances of securing a resolution for southern Lebanon in the near future seemed to disappear, because the Israeli military spoke of a large-scale offensive that could last up to 30 days. Israeli soldiers were meant to comb the area up to the Litani rivier, driving out any Hezbollah guerrillas.

Then, in the early hours of Thursday morning, came the surprising news that the offensive had been suspended in order to give diplomacy a chance. The Middle East is always good for surprises -- even those of a positive nature.

Signal from Washington

But it would probably be too optimistic to believe that the suspension could turn into a cancellation and that diplomats really are in a position to solve the problems that have caused this war. The assumption that the German foreign minister played a decisive role in the suspension of the planned offensive would also be too optimistic -- for that, a signal from Washington must surely have come. Israel may have had unreserved support until now, but the Americans have of course begun to realize that this war has to end if the position of the US, particularly in the Arab world, is to escape further political damage.

At this point, Germany has more of a bit part than starring role, which is why it was quite a bold step for Frank-Walter Steinmeier to make a second trip to Beirut and Jerusalem in such a short period of time -- without any concrete plans or suggestions under his arm, and without the mandate or influence of a mediator.

Steinmeier's visit would have gone down as a total failure, had the parties not suddenly taken matters into their own hands. In Beirut, the government offered to deploy Lebanese troops in the south, and in Jerusalem, the plans to expand the Israeli offensive were put on hold. A tiny window of hope has opened, but it could slam shut again at any moment.

Peter Philipp is Deutsche Welle's chief correspondent.