French President Nicolas Sarkozy put himself forward on Monday as a possible Middle East peace broker, offering in a speech to Israel's parliament to help reach agreement and mobilise French troops if necessary.
"I ask you to trust us because we want to help you," said Sarkozy, the first French president to address the Knesset since Francois Mitterrand in 1982.
Since taking office a year ago, Sarkozy has broken rank with his predecessors by repeatedly describing himself as a "friend of Israel", fostering closer ties with the Jewish state and reiterating that there can be no compromise on its security.
"France is ready to provide its guarantee, ready to mobilise its diplomatic service, its resources, its soldiers," he said, without specifying what role French troops could play.
Sarkozy said peace with the Palestinians was possible if Israel stopped all settlement activity, lifted the checkpoints that criss-cross the West Bank, ended a blockade of Gaza and accepted Jerusalem as capital of two states.
"Create the conditions for movement," Sarkozy told lawmakers, urging them to back a proposal for settlers to leave the West Bank in return for compensation and rehousing in Israel.
"There can be no peace without a halt to settlement activity," he said, condemning "terrorism" and telling Israel it was not alone facing what he said was a military Iranian nuclear programme.
Israel has said it will press ahead with construction in settlement blocks it intends to keep in any final peace deal with the Palestinians. Palestinians fear such settlements will deny them a viable state in the West Bank.
In a welcome address, Olmert praised Sarkozy but, in an apparent allusion to the dispute over settlement expansion, added: "Not always do we see eye to eye on every detail."
