Germany Calls for Bigger US Role in Mideast

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said on Monday that he would like to see an even greater commitment by the US to the Middle East peace process. The participation of countries and international bodies like the United Nations, the European Union and Russia -- which along with Washington make up the Middle East "quartet" -- was necessary, he told journalists. However "the responsibility of playing the greatest role will fall to the US, because their political clout allows them that role," he said. Speaking of new Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, Schröder said that his "first decisions showed that he was taking his aim of ending terrorist violence seriously." As for Israel, he said Germany maintained a special relationship with the country, adding that this rested on the one hand on Germany's historic responsibility to Israel, which he said was unchanged over time, and on the other on the fact that "Israel is the democracy in the region that works." (AFP)