US president Mr Bill Clinton has urged Israelis and Palestinians not to give up on peace in farewell letters published today.
The president, whose term of office officially ended yesterday, sent separate letters to Israeli and Palestinian papers calling on both sides to pursue the path to peace.
Mr Clinton lauded Israeli and Palestinian efforts towards finding a peaceful solution to the Middle eastern conflict and told them they had never been closer to ending the 52 years of violence.
In his letter to the Palestinians, Mr Clinton told them: "never before have you been as close to achieving your goals...regaining your land, establishing a state, building a prosperous future for your children".
He also urged them to ignore the desire for revenge. Over 309 Palestinians have been killed since the most recent outbreak of violence began in October last year.
"Nothing you have accomplished was through violence and nothing will be. It will only be accomplished through peace and negotiations", he told them.
The Israelis were called upon to continue the pursuit of peace despite their confidence in it being shattered by the recent violence, in which 45 Israelis have died.
"I know the violence has shattered your confidence in the peace process and raised questions about whether you and the Palestinians could ever co-exist peacefully", Mr Clinton said.
President Clinton made last minute attempts to bring the two sides together for talks before his term was due to end, but to no avail. President-elect Mr George W. Bush will be inaugurated into office tomorrow.
It is widely believed that the chances of an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians before the Israeli prime ministerial election on February 6th are slim.
Reuters