Mohammad for Mideast peace talks

Dubai: Peace in the Middle East will never be achieved by armed struggle or violence but by dialogue and direct talks based on mutual trust, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said on Sunday.

Shaikh Mohammad was speaking at a meeting with Hans-Gert Pottering, President of the European Parliament, in Dubai, WAM reported. He urged world powers, including European nations, to adopt policies based on dialogue and direct talks to resolve the Middle East conflict.

"The long decades of Arab-Israeli conflict failed to bring about security, peace and economic and social stability for peoples of the region, especially Palestinians and Israelis," Shaikh Mohammad said. He attributed this situation to the lack of confidence and the ineffectiveness of international efforts and mediators to find just and balanced solutions to all concerned parties, especially the Palestinians.

Israelis threatens action

The comments came as Israel threatened on Sunday to launch a major offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip while violence simmered around the blockaded territory days after the end of a truce. Both frontrunners in the race to become prime minister vowed to topple Hamas.

"Israel must topple the Hamas rule in Gaza and a government under my command will do just that," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the governing Kadima party, was quoted as saying by Israeli media. Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud party which is leading in opinion polls, echoed the sentiment.

Hamas officials, meanwhile, said they are always on alert. "These Zionist threats," Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, told Gulf News, "come within the psychological warfare that the criminal cabinet is launching to frighten the Palestinians." But Hamas is "taking these threats seriously because we are facing a deceptive enemy," Barhoum said.