-Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is still a partner for peace with Israel despite his unity deal with the Islamist movement Hamas, Israeli President Shimon Peres said in an interview published on Monday.
Abbas is "absolutely" still a peace partner "because he wants to hold negotiations for peace with Israel," Peres told the Jerusalem Post, saying the Palestinian leader "opposes violence and he wants peace."
The president's stance is at odds with that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has told Abbas to choose between peace with Israel or peace with Hamas, which is committed to the destruction of the Jewish state.
Peres told the paper he had "criticized" Abbas over the surprise deal which was signed last week and aims at ending four years of bitter rivalry, but that it "doesn't free me of the need to talk with him."
He also told the paper the Palestinian bid to seek UN recognition of an independent state based on 1967 borders would not end the conflict if it was not linked to Israel's security needs.
"I'm in favour of recognizing them provided they recognize Israel's security needs," he told the English-language daily.
"Going to the UN solely with a declaration of statehood, without giving an answer to Israel's security concerns -- that will mean a continuation of the conflict, not an end to the conflict," he said.
Peres, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 as an architect of the Oslo Accords on Palestinian autonomy, said there would be no breaking the impasse in negotiations while everything was being dragged into the public eye.
"If these were private talks ... it would be possible to argue and be flexible, but when the conditions are public, it is impossible to move forward," he said.
Peres said only "a short path" was left to reach peace and he was optimistic that an agreement could be reached.
Israel, the president said, must work to delineate boundaries that would see the Jewish state incorporate the main settlement blocs and protect its security interests.
"We only have to determine where the three blocs will be in quiet negotiations," he said.
"The Palestinians say that they want the territory of 1967, not the borders, the territory," he said, referring to the 1967 Six-Day War.
"And we want an agreed-upon land swap that is intended to both leave the blocs and to meet Israel's security needs," Peres said.