A prominent Jewish organization and rival politicians reacted angrily Thursday after Germany's top opposition leader appeared to link Israel's policy towards Palestinians with apartheid.
Following a visit to the southern West Bank city of Hebron, the head of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), Sigmar Gabriel, wrote on his Facebook page: "This is a lawless area for Palestinians."
"This is an apartheid regime for which there is no justification," added Gabriel.
The director of the Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee, Deidre Berger, said: "The comparison of Israel to an apartheid state is an incendiary historical falsehood that delegitimizes the state of Israel."
Political opponents also attacked Gabriel's remarks, with the general secretary of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, Hermann Groehe, calling on him to apologize immediately for his "verbal failure".
Gabriel, who hopes to replace Merkel as leader of Germany in elections expected in late 2013, sought to clarify his remarks in later postings on his Facebook page.
Acknowledging that his words were "dramatic", he said: "If my formulation led to the misinterpretation that I wanted to compare Israel and its government with the old South African apartheid regime, I am sorry."
"I believe the current settlement policy is wrong. I believe the conditions in Hebron are shameful. Both these things would not move me so much if I were not a friend of Israel.
We do neither ourselves nor our friends in Israel any favours by always dressing up our criticism in flowery diplomatic language."