Israeli President Shimon Peres hopes that the new Israeli government will achieve peace with the Palestinians as soon as possible, he told reporters after a meeting with his Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus on Monday.

Peres said he expected considerable progress to be made in the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and in neighboring relations.

He reiterated that the new Israeli government would meet the commitments of the previous cabinet and would continue in the peace process.

He also said a bilateral agreement between Israel and the Palestinians would not solve the Middle East conflict but that the situation must be solved in the context of the whole region.

Peres said Israel has launched talks with the Palestinians longtime ago, but they proceeded slowly, in his opinion, mainly because the Palestinians themselves were split.

Peres, accompanied by Klaus, visited the former concentration camp in the Terezin Little Fortress and the former Jewish ghetto in the town.

The two presidents first went to the National Cemetery outside the Little Fortress where they laid flowers and then they went to the nearby Jewish cemetery and crematory.

Before his departure from Prague on Tuesday, Peres is to meet Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.