German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier canceled a scheduled discussion on the Israeli war on Gaza at his residence in Berlin, amid criticism for not inviting Palestinian representatives to participate in it, while Berlin police began removing a pro-Palestinian sit-in camp near Parliament.

The meeting was originally scheduled to be titled "How Do We Talk About War in the Middle East?" At the Bellevue Palace next Thursday, where Steinmeier was planning to give a speech and discuss the issue with three guests: Miron Mindel, director of the Anne Frank Educational Center, journalist Thilo Jung, and Melody Sucharewicz, an expert on German-Israeli relations.

However, he has received criticism in recent days due to the lack of a Palestinian voice at the meeting, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported.

In a statement obtained by the German News Agency, the presidential office justified the decision to cancel the event by saying that it “came to the conclusion that the roundtable scheduled for May 2 does not serve the goal of promoting social peace in the current tense situation. Therefore, the event will not be held at the same time.” 

According to his office, Steinmeier has organized several dialogue sessions since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7th.

The idea of those sessions was to confront racism, anti-Semitism, hatred and violence, create space for the pain of all parties, facilitate dialogue and promote social peace, according to the statement.

For this purpose, dialogue partners with different views, perspectives and backgrounds were invited, according to the report.

In a related context, police in Berlin on Friday began removing a pro-Palestinian sit-in camp set up by activists outside the parliament building to demand that the government stop arms exports to Israel and end what they say is the criminalization of the solidarity movement with the Palestinians.

The police removed the tents, forcibly removed the demonstrators, and closed the surrounding area to prevent the access of other protesters.

This came after clashes took place between demonstrators and the police on American university campuses and a protest at Sciences Po University in Paris, as part of international protests to denounce the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and Western support for Israel.

The activists set up the camp on April 8, coinciding with the start of the International Court of Justice’s consideration of a lawsuit filed by Nicaragua against Germany over Berlin’s provision of military aid to Israel.

“The idea was to draw attention to German complicity and active enablement of Israeli genocide in Gaza,” Jara Nassar, who organized the camp, told Reuters.

Nassar and dozens of demonstrators sat on the ground chanting pro-Palestinian slogans and songs while the police asked them via loudspeakers to leave.

The German government is among Israel's staunchest allies, and political leaders in Berlin have repeatedly defended Israel's war on Gaza while pursuing pro-Palestinian voices in Germany.

Source: Al Jazeera + German