Former leaders call for West Asia peace drive

BRUSSELS, Oct 4 (Reuters) More than 100 former world leaders and politicians called today for urgent international action to end Arab-Israeli conflict, warning that the West Asia faced its ''worst crisis for years''.

In a statement issued by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, they called for an international conference to agree the outlines of a comprehensive peace deal and prepare for detailed negotiations.

They also urged support for a national unity government in the Palestinian territories, where internal fighting has spiralled, resumption of aid to the Palestinian Authority and talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

''Everyone has lost in this conflict except the extremists throughout the world who prosper on the rage that it continues to provoke,'' said the 135 signatories, who included dozens of ex-presidents and prime ministers and seven Nobel laureates.

''Every passing day undermines prospects for a peaceful, enduring solution,'' said the statement, signed by former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, former US president Jimmy Carter and South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu, among others.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2000, shortly before the outbreak of a Palestinian uprising.

The election victory in January of Hamas, formally committed to the destruction of the state of Israel, further dimmed peace hopes.

After militants in Gaza and Lebanon abducted three Israeli soldiers, Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza and waged a 34-day war against Hizbollah militants.

The statement was released as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the West Asia on a tour aimed at bolstering Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has tried to form a unity government including his Fatah movement and Hamas.

The statement said the Quartet of West Asia peace negotiators should also hold talks with Israel, Syria and Lebanon to discuss the foundations of a wider peace.

''If the Arab-Israeli conflict, with all its terrible consequences, is ever to be resolved, there is a desperate need for fresh thinking and the injection of new political will,'' it said.

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