German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier traveled to the Middle East over the weekend  to help push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. He offered the Egyptians concrete assistance in terms of training and equipment to help prevent weapons smuggling through tunnels from Egypt to Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

The idea got a positive response in Egypt and Israel, but German media commentators say it falls far short of what's needed to bring about a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

Business daily Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"Steinmeier's attempt to tackle the border problem doesn't go far enough. It's not the inability of Egypt's customs officers that's making it easy for the Palestinian weapons smugglers. So far Egypt has simply been unwilling to do the Israelis' dirty work. And that won't change even if the German government sends over a few border control experts as agreed."

"To protect the border effectively, it's essential that control of the Rafah border crossing should pass to the international community. Only if there's a serious effort to cut off the resupply of Hamas can the stationing of peacekeepers contribute to a diplomatic solution."

Left-wing newspaper Berliner Zeitung writes:

"Technical assistance made in Germany is too little. Berlin, Brussels, the whole world must join forces to show both sides a viable way out: one that both Israel and Gaza can live with."

In a second political development of importance to Europeans, Ukraine agreed on Monday to remove conditions it had attached to an agreement with Russia, brokered by the European Union's Czech presidency, to settle a dispute over gas supplies that had plunged much of Europe into an energy crisis.

The move offers a second chance to secure agreement to deploy monitors to check gas flows across Ukraine to Europe and restore supplies.

Russia had accused Ukraine of siphoning off gas to make up for losses it suffered after Moscow turned off the tap on January 1 in a dispute over gas prices.

Left-wing Frankfurter Rundschau has praise for the Czech Republic, which managed negotiations in its role as the six-month rotating president of the European Union:

"Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek helped achieve the diplomatic breakthough with his perseverance. For the Czechs, this success came at exactly the right time. The country's reputation was severely damaged by domestic disputes before it took over the EU presidency. The euroskeptical comments from President Vaclav Klaus, especially, sowed doubt in Brussels about whether this EU newcomer was up to the task of assuming the rotating presidency. Prague has now passed a test."

Conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"The negotiating success the EU achieved in the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine merely masks the weakness of the EU's position. It's all the more irritating given that the EU and Germany learned nothing from the albeit less severe conflict three years ago. Europe depends on Russian gas. The dependence is increasing because demand is mounting. That's why the initial priority must be to organize a secure transport route. As this evidently doesn't work via Ukraine, alternatives must be found. The Baltic Sea pipeline is one of them. But that will heighten Europe's dependence on Russia.