Abbas welcomes 'radical' change in Israel

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the "radical change" wrought on Israel's political landscape by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to set up a new party, saying it could bring peace to the Middle East if he is re-elected.

"There has been a radical change on the political map of Israel. We now have a really new situation," Abbas told a joint news conference after talks in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

"I think that the Israeli people could opt for the choice of peace and when the will of the people is the same as the will of the elected leader, much can be achieved," the Palestinian leader said.

Sharon quit the Likud party he founded last week to set up a new centrist group which has spelled out its willingness to see the creation of a Palestinian state.

The new party, Kadima, seems set to break the two-party stranglehold of Likud and the Labor party in Israel and emerge as the largest group after a general election on March 28.

Abbas, on a two-day visit to Rome and the Vatican, said Sharon had already been voted prime minister by the Israeli people, and when he left Likud the polls indicated he would be the next prime minister."

"Without doubt he is a man to realize his convictions," he said, but he added that the Palestinian Authority was willing to work with whoever wins the elections.

He cautioned that the situation in Israel from the Palestinian point of view was still "very difficult to decipher" because of the changes within the Likud party, where there were many "new and unknown" faces.

Abbas to meet pope next

The Palestinian leader said he had emphasized, in his one-hour meeting with Berlusconi, "the democratic course we have undertaken, and there can be no going back."

Berlusconi reiterated an offer to host Israeli-Palestinian talks in the Sicilian town of Erice, and said Italy was ready to mediate if requested by both sides.

"Italy is prepared to offer whatever is necessary and useful for a positive outcome to the peace process," the prime minister said, adding that he believed both leaders were "the right people" to bring the peace process to fruition.

Abbas had talks earlier Friday with Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who said in a statement he had reminded Abbas to "fight against subversive and terrorist movements," threatening to undermine his leadership.

On Saturday, Abbas was scheduled to have his first talks with Pope Benedict XVI in an audience at the Vatican, and was expected to discuss the issue of the Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem, the town where the Bible says Jesus was born.

His visit comes two weeks after President Moshe Katsav had a private audience with the pontiff and invited him to visit the Jewish State.