Former British PM says Israel should consider talking peace with Hamas

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that Israel cannot continue occupying Palestinian territories if it seeks peace, suggesting Israel consider talking with Hamas, a militant group Israel considers a terrorist organization.

Blair, who served as an envoy on behest of the Quartet (the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia) to the Middle East, made the statements during a peace conference organized by the Ha'aretz daily newspaper in Tel Aviv.

"I admire and love Israel, but the state of Palestine must exist. Occupation isn't a long-term solution," Blair told the conference goers on Tuesday.

Israel occupied territories in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories during the 1967 Mideast War, controlling more than three million Palestinians.

The Palestinians seek to establish their land on those territories, with east Jerusalem serving as its capital.

"Israel is a strong country and will know how to defend itself in any situation, but the conflict will not end without a return to the 1967 borders," the former envoy said.

He also said Israel should consider talking with Hamas in order to end the decades-long conflict with the Palestinians, as the current leadership of the Palestinian Authority does not have enough support of the Palestinian people to strike a peace deal with Israel.

Blair said Hamas can "change its position on Israel" and expressed his optimism about the feasibility of a peace treaty.

Israel deems the Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip since 2007, a terrorist organization, responsible for a slew of militant attacks against Israelis in the past and for firing rockets on Israeli communities.

In its covenant, the movement seeks the destruction of the state of Israel.

Israel has fought several rounds of fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in recent years, the last one taking place for two months last summer.

Another speaker at the conference was Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who expressed less optimism than Blair about the prospects of peace between Israel and the Palestinians anytime soon.

Rivlin said he does not believe Israelis and Palestinians "will be able to bequeath peace" to future generations, but said the two peoples could reach "breakthroughs."

The president spoke of "building trust between the two peoples and leadership" so that future generations will "not begin at square one."

The president also spoke of maintaining good ties between Jews and Arab Israelis living side by side in Israel. Arab Israelis are Palestinians who stayed in Israel after its establishment in 1948. They became Israeli citizens, constituting 20 percent of the population.

"At the core, left-wing and right-wing government alike, all of us, are ignoring the need to forge or manage the relations between Jews and Arabs, in Israel and elsewhere," the president said. "From this point of view, we are all behaving like ostriches, in the name of an unknown future."

The conference is held amid a weeks-long wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, which has claimed the lives of 12 Israelis and more than 80 Palestinians.

There are currently no talks held between both sides, as Israeli and Palestinian leaders blame each other for the current security escalation.

The last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority ended abruptly in April 2014 without any results. Endit