SINGAPORE, Feb 21 — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday reiterated his hopes for Israel and Palestine to resume direct negotiations, while adding that a two-state solution is the only way to bring "just and durable” peace.

"We have consistently believed that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, however hard to achieve, is the only way to bring peace and security to both peoples,” he said during a joint press briefing with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Istana in the afternoon.

"I told the Prime Minister in Israel last year. We still hold that view.”

Lee said that Netanyahu updated him on "developments and his reasons for being cautiously optimistic about things”.

"And I explained Singapore’s position again, and expressed my hope for peace between Israel and Palestine, which will contribute to a stabler Middle East and a stabler world.”

Addressing the Israel-Palestine issue during an official dinner hosted by Lee in the evening, Netanyahu said Israel is committed to peace in the Middle East.

"I sense a great change in the Arab world, in many Arab countries and I hope ... to be able to use that new-found attitude towards Israel to help us solve the Palestinian Israeli conflict as well,” he said.

Netanyahu’s visit to Singapore is a reciprocal visit following Lee’s trip to Israel last year.

Lee noted during yesterday’s joint press briefing that while the Middle East is far from South-east Asia, developments in the region have an impact on Singapore and is of concern to the city state.

"People all over the world are seized with the issues in the Middle East, including issues between Israel and Palestine. It is, especially for Muslim communities, an emotional issue,” he said.

Lee added that Singapore is a good friend of Israel but it is also good friends with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and many Arab countries.

While noting that the situation in the Middle East is complex, Lee said he hoped Israel and Palestine can resume direct negotiations towards "a just and durable solution” to the conflict.

Multiple efforts have been made to broker an agreement on a two-state solution, in which Israel would exist peacefully alongside a new Palestinian state created in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, lands seized by Israel in the 1967 war, without success.

Last April, Lee made an official week-long trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. — TODAY