Germany on Monday called for a peace summit on Israel and Palestine with the participation of France, Jordan and Egypt.
Annalena Baerbock, the German Foreign Minister, said a four-power conference in Berlin could build on peace steps recently brokered by Jordan.
Visiting Berlin on Monday, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi said his country supported the so-called Munich format.
Germany's call came amid what Ms Baerbock called a worsening situation in the Middle East.
She said Ramadan was not playing out against a backdrop of "peace, family and joy" as would be hoped.
Palestinians staged a strike on Sunday after two people were killed by Israeli troops. Israel's parliament last month repealed a 2005 law banning four settlements in the West Bank.
"It is important to keep a political approach to solving the conflict in our sights," Ms Baerbock said at a press conference with Mr Al Safadi.
"Our countries agree that the two-state solution still offers the best basis for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, dignity, security and self-determination."
She said Germany wanted to link the planned talks to the negotiations in Aqaba, Jordan, that in February produced a joint communique between Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
Israel agreed to stop "discussion of any new settlement units" in occupied territories for four months.
"A meeting soon in the Munich format would be important," Ms Baerbock said, as she invited her French and Egyptian counterparts to Berlin.
The Munich group first met in 2020 and has held several meetings at the level of foreign ministers.
In talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last year, they warned against "unilateral measures" that could close the door to a two-state solution.
Mr Al Safadi, who was meeting senior German officials in Berlin, said the Munich group had helped to prevent the situation deteriorating further.
"The situation is very explosive," he said, speaking through a German translator.
"We either allow the extremists to guide the way, which will definitely lead us to a catastrophe with much more conflict and violence, or those of us striving for peace work together to prevent dangerous developments."
In February, Ms Baerbock voiced concern about the Israeli government’s plans to overhaul the country’s legal system.
She said that a right-wing proposal to introduce the death penalty for Palestinians convicted in deadly attacks would be “a big mistake”. In a press conference with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen, Ms Baerbock echoed remarks by Mr Biden that rule of law in Israel was an important part of the the two country's alliance.
"The values that bind us together include the protection of principles of the rule of law such as judicial independence. This was always a hallmark of Israel," she told reporters alongside Mr Cohen.
Mr Cohen defended the judicial reforms proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they would "strengthen Israeli democracy".
Critics say the proposed reforms amount to a power grab by the prime minister. The move to overhaul the judiciary has sparked the largest protests in Israel's history, accompanied by strikes in almost every sector of the economy, including in the security forces.
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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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