Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has urged Israel's newly elected leadership to form a government quickly for peace negotiations to get underway.

"We wish for Israel to form a government so that we can negotiate... fast, without losing any time," the visiting Palestinian leader told South Africa's National Assembly in Cape Town on Friday.

Abbas, who is on a three-day state visit, called on South Africa to do whatever it could to help resolve the conflict between his country and Israel, the SAPA news agency reported.

"I would like to call upon you and all peace and freedom loving people in the world to exert all necessary efforts to stop the Israeli aggression," he was quoted as saying. He also asked for help in ensuring the execution of all signed peace agreements and United Nations resolutions.

"We are confident that with our dear friend (South African) President Thabo Mbeki and members of his government, we can reach common position through which we can push towards reviving the peace process in our region," he said.

Abbas' visit to South Africa, the first one since he took over from the late Yasser Arafat as the Palestinian leader, came at a critical period in the troubled history of the Middle East following potentially decisive political changes in Israel and Palestine recently.

Abbas has just sworn in a new Palestinian government comprising members of the hardline group Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January by a landslide.

And in Israeli elections held earlier this week, the new centrist Kadima party, formed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a few months ago, emerged as the strongest political player in Israel with its vow to unilaterally redraw the final borders of that country.

Abbas accused Israel of pursuing aggressive and illegal practices and of undermining the peace process.

He demanded that such policies cease "as they intend to draw and define the final solution unilaterally."

The South African government, which supported a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts based on the two- state principle, was eager to receive a briefing from Abbas on those political changes and their implications for the region, the country's official news agency Buanews commented.

The South African Foreign Ministry has said Abbas' visit "comes within the context of South Africa's priority to promote the peaceful resolution of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction and development in the Middle East, through .. continued dialogue with both the Israelis and Palestinians."

Abbas told South Africa's legislators that Palestinians were keen and interested to learn more about South Africa, which peacefully emerged from brutal apartheid rule 12 year ago, and to use their experience in advancing the political process in the Middle East.

"We welcome any effort that your government would make and we assure you, that despite all our suffering, we will remain committed to all peace initiatives aimed at reviving and protecting the peace process," he said.

Source: Xinhua