Qadthafi sees new Mideast 'roadmap'

“The radical and historical solution is one state for Palestinians and jews,” he told a group of academics in London via satellite from Tripoli on Friday night.

“The territory is too narrow to accommodate two states, and they would fight.”

Middle East experts said the proposal would probably be ignored by both sides of the current peace talks, and by the quartet of roadmap sponsors: The United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations.

“People in mainstream Zionism would not contemplate it and I don't think many people in Jerusalem listen to Qadhafi,” said Yossi Mekelberg, associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Qadhafi, who has run the oil-rich North African country with an iron grip for 34 years, said he was not worried if the “old guard” rejected his ideas because he expected to see support from young Israelis and Palestinians through the Internet.

Qadhafi is trying to rehabilitate his image in the rest of the world after the United Nations suspended its sanctions in 1999, imposed seven years earlier for its suspected role in an airline bombing.

The United States maintains trade sanctions against Libya for what it calls Tripoli's “sponsorship of terrorism”.

“Qadhafi wants to be a major player and have influence, but he won't have any impact on the peace process,” Mekelberg said.

Robert Springborg, director of the London Middle East Institute who hosted the talk, said Qadhafi's idea harked back to the 1960s when it was last used as the basis for peace talks.

“I have long thought that a very small Palestinian state alongside an Israeli state is probably not viable,” he said. “Many believe a one-state solution is preferable.”

While unlikely to happen in the short term, Springborg said it could develop over a long period after two states are formed separately.

In case it comes along sooner than expected, Qadhafi said he already has a name for this new country, Israteen.