Israel and the Palestinian leadership must step through a "window of opportunity" for peace, Israeli President Shipon Shimon Peres said on Sunday in an address to the World Economic Forum on the Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea.
He said the moment for a historic breakthrough had arrived.
"We and our Palestinian neighbors must return to negotiations as soon as possible and bring peace,"» he said.
He called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "our partner and we are yours."
You share our hopes and efforts for peace, and we share yours.
"We can and should make the breakthrough. We should not permit the hurdles to overcome us. History will judge us not by the process of negotiations but by its outcome. The today obstacles will pale in the light of peace," Peres added, stressing that "we must depart from the skepticism that claims that war is inevitable."
"War is not inevitable. Peace is inevitable," he stated.
The Israeli leader said that the peace process "already has a beginning." "We have agreed on a common ground to complete it – a two-state solution, with a Jewish state, Israel, and an Arab state, Palestine living side by side in peace, dignity and freedom."
He said the appointment of John Kerry as US secretary of state had given fresh impetus to the peace process.
The alternative would be "great disappointment", he warned.
"I know from experience how difficult these decisions are to make, on both sides," said Peres. "But this is the time. Our leaders must say yes to a future of peace."
The Israeli president spoke at a gathering attended by John Kerry, Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah of Jordan and Quartet Mideast Envoy Tony Blair.
His plea came after 200 Israeli and Palestinian business leaders unveiled a joint proposal for economic cooperation between the two sides forged under Blair's auspices.
"We call on the political leaders to move forward with boldness, courage and a sense of historic mission to provide a comprehensive vision necessary to resolving all the final-status issue," the architects of the initiative, entitled Breaking The Impasse, said in a statement.
John Kerry said Sunday he believes the potential 4 billion dollars plan could expand the Palestinian economy by up to 50 percent in the next three years.
It could also cut unemployment by almost two-thirds, and average wages could jump 40 percent, he said. But Kerry said it all depends on parallel progress on peace between Israel and the Palestinians.