Jerusalem: Israeli President Shimon Peres told new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday that the world backed the Palestinian quest for a state, a goal the incoming right-wing leader has not endorsed.

"The government you lead must make a supreme effort to move the peace process forward on all fronts," Peres said at the state ceremony at which former prime minister Ehud Olmert handed over formally to Netanyahu, who was sworn in Tuesday.

"The outgoing government adopted the vision of two states for two peoples, promoted by the U.S. administration and accepted by a majority of countries in the world," Peres said.

"Your government must determine the shape of the coming reality," he said, stopping short of an explicit call for Netanyahu to declare support for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Peres, a former center-left prime minister whose current post is largely ceremonial, also cited the Arab peace initiative for the Middle East. That proposal offers Israel normal relations with the Arab world in return for a Palestinian state and full withdrawal from land Israel seized in a 1967 war.

"I know of no better alternative than peace for the entire region, especially since the Arab need for peace is conjoined with the Iranian threat to take over the Arab part of our region," Peres said. Netanyahu has also highlighted misgivings among Arab leaders about the power of non-Arab Iran.

Asked by reporters about Peres's comments on a Palestinian state and the Arab peace initiative, Netanyahu was non-committal. "I listened seriously and am guided by a sense of responsibility and the need for unity," he said.

In a policy speech in parliament Tuesday, Netanyahu said he would negotiate peace with the Palestinians but again made no explicit mention of creating a state alongside Israel, a concept at the foundation of talks sponsored by the United States but currently suspended.

Netanyahu told the legislature, which later ratified his right-leaning government, that he wanted the Palestinians to have sufficient authority to rule their own lives but not in a way that would threaten Israel's security.

At the handover ceremony at Peres's official residence, Netanyahu did not speak about government policy other than to say: "We will have to roll up our sleeves and get to work."

Peres attracted attention late last year by praising the Arab peace initiative, first proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002.

Israeli officials have suggested Netanyahu may give the head of state a role in regional diplomacy, partly to offset the fact that far-right leader Avigdor Lieberman is now foreign minister.

Lieberman has angered Arabs inside Israel and beyond over the years with comments many see as racist. Last year, he said President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, one of only two Arab states with full relations with Israel, could "go to hell."

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Source : Reuters