Germany's Top Diplomat to Meet Israel, Palestinian Leaders

Germany's foreign minister will travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories at the weekend for talks with leaders on both sides amid surging tensions, a spokesman said Friday.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier aims to get a first-hand picture after recent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces, a situation in which the "peace process isn't really advancing", the spokesman told reporters.

He is due to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and other officials in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Saturday.

He is then scheduled to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several other ministers, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the following day, the spokesman added.

Months-long unrest in east Jerusalem has spread to the occupied West Bank and Arab communities across Israel in recent days, raising fears of a new Palestinian uprising.

Much of the unrest in Jerusalem has been fueled by Israeli moves to step up settlement activity in the city's eastern sector and by religious tensions at the Al-Aqsa compound, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews.