Spain is to initiate a new Middle East peace plan along with France and Italy, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Thursday, citing worsening violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Peace between Israel and the Palestinians means to a large extent peace on the international scene ... We cannot remain impassive in the face of the horror that continues to unfold before our eyes," Rodriguez Zapatero said after a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac.

The Spanish prime minister said that violence in the Middle East had reached a level of deterioration that required determined and urgent action by the international society.

The peace plan, which would include an immediate cease-fire, formation of a national unity government by the Palestinians that can gain international recognition, an exchange of prisoners, talks between Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian president and an international mission in Gaza to monitor a cease-fire, would be presented to a summit of the Europe Union next month, Zapatero said.

An international conference on peace in the Middle East should then be held, he added, without giving further details of the suggested gathering.

Source: Xinhua