September 14, 2006: Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet has approved the deployment of German troops to the Middle East as part of the United Nations peacekeeping force supervising the Israeli-Hezbollah cease fire. As many as 2400 military personnel will be part of the German force, comprised of two frigates equipped with helicopters, two supply ships (one of which houses a small hospital) and four patrol boats.

The German navy will patrol an area 50 miles wide off the Lebanese coast and is authorized to use force to defend itself and to carry out its mission of weapons interdiction against reluctant ships. Lebanese navy officers will provide liaison contact on the German ships but will have no decision-making authority.

Merkel described her cabinet's decision as historic and said that her country's deployment of forces to the Lebanese coast was the beginning of an extensive German engagement in the region that would "last many years." According to Merkel, peace and stability in the Middle East are in Germany's and Europe's interest, and Germany's decision will mean that Germany is not "just a spectator in this complicated region."

Merkel also noted that the deployment was not without risks. "We have to be warned from the past," she said, referring to earlier UN Security Council resolutions that had not been fulfilled or were only partially fulfilled. "That must not happen to us," was her decisive comment. Her foreign minister Frank-Walter Frank-Walter Steinmeier described Germany's part in an effort to neutralize the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as a first stone in a mosaic that would lead to peace in the Middle East.

Although the cabinet decision has to be approved by the Bundestag, approval is considered certain, even though there will likely be some dissenting votes. Some parliament members raised concerns over the potential risks involved in the assignment. Free Democratic Party (FDP) chairman Guido Westerwelle voiced his opposition to the mission on historical grounds, saying that with its past Germany had no business sending its military to an area near Israel.

In an editorial published today, the conservative daily "Die Welt" seconded Merkel's assessment that Germany's deployment of troops to the Middle East is historic: "It is a moment to wish success. That success is already tangible for Germany. With the decision to deploy UN peacekeepers the chancellor has already been successful in getting a foot in the door of the conference room. Not only that: the German government has become a major player in the region" (September 14, 2006). A first poll taken after Chancellor Merkel made the announcement showed 58 percent of those surveyed in favor of the decision.