Israeli President Schimon Peres Thursday launched an impassioned plea to bring the current peace talks with the Palestinians to a successful conclusion and warned against allowing them to collapse, dpa reported.
He was meeting with former British prime minister Tony Blair, the envoy for the Middle East quartet that is comprised of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.
"We must realize that we do not have endless time (for the talks) and that wrong decisions would be irreversible," Peres said.
"These are times for historic - not political - decisions," the 90-year-old leader said. "We now have a chance to conclude peace with the Palestinians, and I am convinced that (Palestinian President) Mahmoud Abbas seriously wants that."
"We have the possibility to make the right decision, namely for the two-state solution with a Jewish state of Israel and an Arabic state of Palestine," he said.
Israelis and the Palestinians are currently negotiating under the mediation of US Secretary of State John Kerry, with a six month deadline that ends in April to find a solution that will create a separate Palestinian state and end the decades-old conflict.