Special report: Crisis between Israel and Palestine

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                            Abbas meets with Israeli FM in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh

    SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on Sunday that the Israeli government would continue its disengagement policy on the ruling Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas), which is committed to Israeli destruction.

    "Hamas didn't recognize Israel, nor respect agreements, nor renounce violence; Why should we deal with them?" Peres told Xinhua.

    Peres, an 82-year-old veteran Israeli diplomat who won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the historic Oslo Accord, answered several questions raised by Xinhua on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) conference on the Middle East.

    Peres said that the Israeli government still supported the two-state solution, which advocated the foundation of the Palestinian state and allowed the Palestinians to live side by side with the Israelis.

    Despite the disengagement policy, Peres and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held a 40-minute closed-door meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the day.

    Emerging from the meeting room, Peres said that the Israeli side would deal with Palestinians on economic issues while continuing political isolation of Hamas.

    The Abbas-Livni meeting was the first high-level one between Israeli and Palestinian officials since Hamas won the Jan. 25 parliamentary elections.

    Asked why Israel is willing to maintain contacts with Abbas, Peres said that Abbas is not Hamas and he is the direct president of the Palestinians enjoying respect.

    The three-day forum, under the theme of "The Promise of a New Generation," opened on Saturday in Egypt's south Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Some 1,200 political and business leaders from 46countries partook in the forum. Enditem