Spain presses 'two-state' solution in talks with Barak

(MADRID) - Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos insisted Tuesday on the need for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict during a meeting with Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The talks came as hundreds of Palestinians clashed with security forces in east Jerusalem as tension boiled over in the city and a senior Hamas leader called for a new "intifada," or uprising.

During their 90-minute meeting in Madrid, Moratinos "insisted on the need to advance decisively towards the consolidation of the two-state solution," the Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement.

Last week Israel gave the green light to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in the area the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state, during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.

The move dealt a heavy blow to months of US-led efforts to relaunch peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

The presence of nearly a half million Israelis in more than 120 settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem has long been a major obstacle to the peace process.

Moratinos, a former European Union envoy to the Middle East, also stressed during his talks with Barak that Spain backs the efforts by US President Barack Obama's administration to relaunch the Middle East peace talks, the foreign ministry added.

Barak met later on Tuesday with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who urged him to resolve the tensions between Israel and the United States over the timing of the announcement of the settlement expansion, a spokesman for the prime minister's office said.

The Isreali defence minister discussed concerns over the the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would represent for the Middle East during his meeting with Zapatero, whose country holds the rorating presidency of the European Union, the spokesman added.