LONDON, Feb 6: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted that an armed Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, would not be tolerated and expressed support for the Arab peace initiative describing it as an appropriate mechanism for taking the Middle East peace process forward.

Speaking at a press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Downing Street on Thursday, he said that peace could be achieved in the Middle East based on a secure Israel and a viable Palestinian state.

He also insisted that all parties to the Middle East dispute over Palestine must be brought together to thrash out a lasting peace settlement despite the recent hostilities in Gaza.

Mr Brown said: “I believe that despite the suffering and despite all the pain that has been caused in recent weeks, we must move forward and we must try to bring the parties together and certainly we will do everything we can to make that happen, and I hope that both sides in the peace negotiations will see this as a demand from the public round the world that we achieve a peace agreement as soon as possible.”

Mr Abbas said that Palestinians remained committed to peace but were in “urgent need” of assistance as a result of the Gaza crisis. He offered his thanks for “humanitarian aid and support” received so far and said that the UK would have an important role to play in the Cairo summit scheduled to take place in March.

He called the recent Israeli attack on Gaza as something dreadful “which led to the killing of women, children, the innocent, the destruction which in fact will mean $15 billion in order to rebuild Gaza.”

“In spite of all of this we are saying to the whole world, we are saying to Israel, there is no alternative to peace in the Middle East,” he added.

He said reconstruction in Gaza must be achieved with the full participation of the Palestinian Authority as well as all the international agencies and organisations.