ink of humanitarian disaster, is being viewed in the context of the international clamour that arose following Israel's bloody assault on a humanitarian aid flotilla in May. That the vote was unanimous   uncharacteristically for the politically diverse Bundestag speaks volumes about the strength of the international message the Germans sought to convey. Nevertheless, the actual content of the motion has left many divided over its true import and potential effectiveness in the context of achieving a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The drastic shift in western public opinion effected by the brutal "war" on Gaza in 2008/9 along with more recent events, has lead to German demands to bring Hamas, the elected government in Gaza, into the process of peace negotiations. Further to this, a recent grassroots campaign in Germany encouraging the publication and dissemination of a comprehensive new political paper on the Middle East, which calls on the German government to adopt a more courageous, just and unambiguous stance on the Palestinian issue backed by concrete measures and action, has been gaining momentum. While elaborating the historic sources of the conflict and the justice of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, along with the conflicting geopolitical interests of the major players among other things, quite significantly the paper analyses the specific relationship between Germany and Israel in the shadow of the Nazi genocide against European Jews. It argues that the historic fact of the Holocaust can no longer be a justification for Germany's traditionally unquestioning support for Israel and a veil shrouding outright German complicity with Israel's flouting of international laws and human rights conventions.

A cornerstone of German foreign policy, since the days of Germany's first post-war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, has been its unique relationship with Israel based on a belief that Germany's legitimacy turned on its readiness to atone for the atrocities of the Nazi regime and on a perceived moral obligation to guarantee and support staunchly the Jewish state. Since the sixties, a German relationship with Israel characterised by apology has become entrenched. German financial reparations for the Holocaust to-date total approximately $32.5 billion, descendants of German Jews are granted automatic citizenship and, along with cultural, military, intelligence and economic ties, the German government is essentially a voice for Israel within both the EU and the UN.

Nevertheless, the new motion has been greeted by some Jewish communities and staunch supporters of Israel with anger, fear and scepticism. Not just because it is felt that it could undermine Germany's absolute commitment to Israel, but because it reflects the growing disaffection in German public thought towards Israeli policies. It also challenges the traditional German response to its communal feelings of shame and responsibility that has largely held Germany to ransom and rendered it incapable of action even when faced with being complicit to a new genocide. In one German parliamentarian describing the motion as a new "common German foreign and security policy", it is being seen as an effort by mainstream politicians to close the gap between the official government stance and German public sentiment. Philipp Missfelder, a member of the Christian Democratic forum, commented on the particular significance of the motion "in light of our [German] historic responsibility and our [German] history which in this day and age is characterised not by guilt, but by great responsibility to reach the common objectives of peace." In endeavouring to heed the overall lessons of their history, Germans are now confident enough to define a new and more appropriate response which acknowledges their moral responsibility, not to Jews or to Israel, but to ensuring that a horror like the Holocaust should never be allowed to happen again - to anyone.

Nonetheless, there are those who would exploit particular German sensitivity to comparisons and accusations of anti-Semitism for political ends. In the same way that the legitimate Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign is equated malevolently with the Nazi boycott of Jewish shopkeepers, it has been asserted that the Bundestag motion is merely a polite form of anti-Semitism reflecting the rise of anti-Semitic attacks in Germany.

The German Jewish Zionist columnist, Henryk Broder, who labels critics of Israel as anti-Semites regularly wrote an article in response to the motion entitled 'Einingkeit und Recht und Gaza' which translates as 'Unity and Justice and Gaza' - a parody of the German national anthem which used to include the line "Deutschland uber alles" or 'Germany above all' and was a call for the creation of a unified Germany. Broder's article asserts that the unanimous Bundestag motion was an act of national self-discovery. Conjuring up images of the spirit of Kaiser Wilhelm II floating about the Bundestag and Germans uniting in an anti-Semitic universe, he asserts that the 'Palestine Question' had replaced the 'Jewish question' as the cross-party tape that holds Germans together and creates a sense of national unity.

Interestingly enough, the Bundestag motion essentially makes only two very basic demands; that an international inquiry into the flotilla incident, in which nine peace activists were shot in international waters, be established and that the blockade on Gaza be lifted. Both of these demands are requirements under international law. The central premise for demanding that the siege be lifted was its political ineffectiveness and counter productivity to the "security interests" of Israel. Moreover, it fails to condemn or even mention the illegal occupation of Palestine; it maintains Israeli propagandist justifications for their actions and endeavours to soften accusations against Israel while containing formulations non-conducive to a genuine peace movement.

Thus, while the motion, as Broder asserts, does represent an act of German national self-discovery in that it is a definite step towards a redefinition and normalisation of the German-Israeli relationship, it is rather tentative. In the wake of revelations that the German passport used by Mossad in the Dubai assassination scandal was genuine, and had been obtained using a concocted story of Nazi persecution, isn't it time for a radical reassessment of German foreign policy in line with its historic moral obligation? If descendants of German Jews stripped of their citizenship are granted automatic German citizenship, how can Germany not support the legitimate Palestinian claim of the refugees' right of return? Is it appropriate for Germany to sit idly by as the Arab Israeli MP, Haneen Zoubi, is threatened with being stripped of her citizenship? With the rise to power of ultra-right wing nationalists like Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has voiced the desire to drown Palestinian prisoners in the Dead Sea, is it that much of a stretch of the imagination to be able to see parallels between Gaza, the largest prison on earth, and the Warsaw ghetto?

Germany's commitment to and guarantee of Israel is one of its basic political premises and should guarantee its right to criticise Israeli policies and actions. What is being demanded of the German government is for it to adopt a more courageous, just and unambiguous stance on the Palestinian issue which requires the perimeters of its 'special friendship' with Israel to be redefined. Allowing oneself to be censored by accusations of guilt is just as reprehensible as donning the mantle of the victim to avoid censure and cannot make for a healthy relationship. As one of the key actors and wealthiest nations in the EU, it is time for Germany to take the initiative and really lead on the Palestinian and other issues, which is not without precedent. Germany's former foreign minister, Joschka Fisher, opposed the war in Iraq and in 2002 refused to let the peace process die; Germany has also endeavoured to involve Syria in peace negotiations and has been open to unity talks between Hamas and Fatah, both of whom it recognises; it is also a donor to the Palestinian Authority. It is now time for Germany to show true friendship to Israel by being an honest broker for a just and lasting peace.

www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/europe/1314-germany-redefines-relations-with-israel