German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit the Middle East to meet with Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian officials to search for ways to stop the ongoing conflict there.

Steinmeier will visit the region in the "near future," a ministry spokeswoman confirmed late Friday.

He would hold talks in Egypt, Israel and meet Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, said the spokeswoman, who refrained from commenting on the role of German intelligence agencies in seeking the release of Israeli hostages.

Several European politicians, including EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana and French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, have flown to the Middle East to seek diplomatic ways to head off the ongoing conflict between Israel and Lebanon.

Steinmeier and his predecessor Joschka Fischer were both urged specifically as possible negotiators based on their experience in the region.

Steinmeier brokered a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah in 2004 and Fischer was very active in bringing together Palestinians and Israelis for peace talks during his time in office.

But right now, neither Fischer nor Steinmeier are taking on an individual role in mediating as Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said early Friday that Germany, along with other European and G-8 countries, was doing everything it could to help calm the situation.

"A special mediating role for Germany beyond the efforts in the context of the G-8 or the European Union is not appropriate," Wilhelm told a press conference.

"But we are making every contribution that is within our possibilities to get the results that the international community urgently wants," he said.

Regarding the possible participation of German troops in an international peacekeeping mission, Wilhelm said it was still too early to discuss any particular involvement, adding that before Germany could consider taking on any role, it needed to make clear what stance the UN Security Council will take.

Source: Xinhua