Israel and Germany have pledged to strengthen relations between their two countries.
The pledge came as German Chancellor Helmut Kohl began an official visit to Israel.
After a welcoming ceremony Tuesday at the Wohl Rose Garden in Jerusalem, Kohl visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. He laid a wreath for the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis and said he was especially affected by the murders of hundreds of thousands of children by his countrymen.
It is bad not to remember the past, but it is seven times worse if a lesson is not learned so that a better future can be built, he said.
Kohl later met with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Both leaders promised to strengthen economic ties.
One highlight of the meeting was the signing of a multimillion dollar deal between the Volkswagen car manufacturer and the Dead Sea Works.
The Israeli plant is to provide Volkswagen with magnesium for the building of a lightweight, fuel-efficient car.
The two leaders also discussed Iran. Kohl spoke out against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but did not answer questions about German ties with Tehran. Rabin also refused to comment on the matter.
On Monday, Rabin and Kohl met with Jordan’s King Hussein at the juncture of the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers, where the three leaders pledged their commitment to work together to develop regional water resources.
They also reviewed plans for two dams and a desalination plant that would provide Jordan with an additional 280 million cubic yards of water every year.
The dam project, expected to cost $535 million, is being funded by the European Union. Germany has said it would pay at least 28 percent of the sum and that it might increase its share of the financing.
The meeting took place at Bakura, on a small piece of land returned to Jordan under the October 1994 peace treaty and then leased back to Israel for farming.
Khol was in Jordan on Sunday for what was the second leg of Middle East trip. His first stop was in Cairo, where he met with President Hosni Mubarak.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
