There is ‘’no alternative’’ to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli President Shimon Peres told the Norwegian Jewish community on Sunday.
“Neither the Palestinians nor us really have any alternative but to live in peace. in two separate independent states,” he told a meeting in Oslo's synagogue. “Never give up hope."
Around 1,500 Jews live in the country.
Peres is on state visit to Norway which will include on Monday a full ceremonial reception by King Harald V and a Royal dinner. The president will also meet Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Olemic Thommessen, the president of the country's parliament.
On Tuesday, the president is scheduled to attend a festive gathering at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, where he will deliver an address before returning to Israel in the late afternoon.
The President said he remembered attending a service in the same the synagogue 20 years ago with then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, when the Oslo Accords were signed.
He said that that day he had prayed for peace alongside Rabin, adding that “until it is completed we still have to pray and pray and pray.”