Germany gave its strongest signal yet on Tuesday that it will send troops to join a U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, a move that is likely to prove divisive in the country 60 years after the Holocaust.Chancellor Angela Merkel has so far been non-committal on the matter but Eckart von Klaeden, foreign policy spokesman for Merkel's conservatives (CDU-CSU) in parliament, said it was a question of "how" rather than "if" Germany would contribute.
"I think it is a given that we should contribute but what the contribution will look like will only come after ongoing talks," said von Klaeden, who had previously been more cautious.
Government spokesman Thomas Steg said on Monday the cabinet could decide next week on Germany's role.
The idea that their soldiers might have to shoot at Israelis makes many Germans uneasy given that 6 million Jews were wiped out under Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.
One option would be for Germany to send its navy to patrol the coast off Lebanon and Israel, said von Klaeden, who is seen as close to Merkel.
Several German newspapers had reported that possibility and had also said Merkel's conservatives have agreed with their Social Democrat coalition partners to supply troops if needed.
Christian Schmidt, a junior defense minister and conservative member of parliament, told the daily Berliner Zeitung that Germany would join the peace mission and that details were being worked out.
"Participating directly in the buffer zone in southern Lebanon is not a priority for us," Schmidt told Wednesday's edition of the paper according to extracts released on Tuesday.
Other politicians have said German soldiers could undertake humanitarian work or help rebuild infrastructure.
After five weeks of fighting, a U.N.-brokered truce between Israel and Hizbollah started on Monday. World powers are now in talks about contributions to a force of 15,000 foreign troops.
A meeting of about 20 potential troop contributing nations expects a concept of operations to be ready by Thursday.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier left on Monday for his third trip to the Middle East since hostilities broke out. He is due to visit Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia.