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Israel's Livni pledges peace talks with Palestinians

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TEL AVIV, February 9 (RIA Novosti) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has pledged to resume peace talks with the Palestinians should she win Tuesday's parliamentary elections and be appointed premier.

Livni goes to the parliamentary polls as head of the ruling Kadima party, which, according to the latest polls, is slightly behind the campaign frontrunner - the opposition rightist party Likud.

"I believe in the peaceful process started in Annapolis. I have been the chief negotiator from the Israeli side for a year. We agreed on the parameters of future agreements, and my intention, my goal is to resume talks now suspended," she told RIA Novosti.

Her key rival, Likud head Benjamin Netanyahu, has said Israel ultimately has no choice but to "topple" Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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However, Livni said that, "I believe the only way to resolve the conflict is to adopt the idea of two states for two peoples living side by side in peace and security rather than to implement different economic projects,"

While Livni is for peace talks, analysts say that her party is unlikely to gain power without bringing in a hard-line rightwing party.

She also said territorial concessions to Syria should be made, and that Iran should not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.

As Israel prepares for the polls, a delegation from the radical Palestinian movement Hamas is continuing consultations aimed at achieving a long-term ceasefire deal with Israel in the Gaza Strip, a member of the Hamas leadership said Sunday.

The Hamas delegation arrived in Egypt on Saturday for the final round of ceasefire talks with Israel.

The delegation, led by a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, is expected to learn Israel's response to the Hamas group's ceasefire proposals and to give its final response on the 18-month ceasefire deal.

Hamas insists on an end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, in place since the radical Islamic group took control of the enclave in June 2007. Hamas left the talks in Cairo on Wednesday with no agreement in place, blaming "Israel's stubbornness in lifting the blockade of the Gaza Strip and opening the border crossings."

Egypt is mediating the talks between Israel and Hamas, who do not communicate directly.

More than 1,300 Palestinians were killed during Israel's recent three-week military operation in Gaza, which was aimed at stopping rocket and mortar fire into southern Israel from Palestinian territory.

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