German minister makes brief stop in Gaza Strip

BERLIN - The Associated Press

Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Dirk Niebel. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE

Germany’s development minister has made a brief visit to the Gaza Strip to inaugurate a sewage plant in the territory whose refurbishment was funded by Berlin, The Associated Press has reported.

Dirk Niebel’s ministry said he also laid the cornerstone Sunday for a school to be run by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

Germany doesn’t deal with Hamas, which rules Gaza and which Israel, the U.S and European Union list as a terrorist organization. Niebel’s ministry says he met later Sunday with an Israeli major-general responsible for coordinating activities in the Palestinian territories.

Niebel’s stop in Gaza, which he already visited last year, comes at the end of a trip that also included stops in Israel and talks in the West Bank with officials in the Western-backed government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.