The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Jerusalem

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday pledged Germany's continued support of Israel in a landmark speech at the tail end of a solidarity visit to mark 60 years since the Jewish state's founding.

"Germany will never abandon Israel but will remain a true friend and partner," Merkel said in an address to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, the first by a German head of government.

"Sixty years of Israel: that is most of all an occasion for great joy," she said, referring to the Jewish state's anniversary that will be officially marked in May.

"Germany and Israel are and will always remain linked in a special way through the memory of the Holocaust," she said as she wrapped up a visit to mark the founding of the Jewish state in the wake of the Nazi genocide.