Visiting former US president Bill Clinton urged Israel to refrain from taking unilateral steps in the Mideast peace process, local newspaper Ha'aretz reported on Sunday.

In a speech delivered at a forum in Jerusalem on Saturday night, Clinton called upon the Israeli leadership to avoid unilateral measures in dealings with the Palestinians and to choose the course of peace, according to the report.

He also praised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the Gaza withdrawal, but urged the veteran hardliner to pursue a path of dialogue rather than unilateralism.

In addition, Clinton said former Labor party chairman Shimon Peres' defeat in last week's primaries showed that the Israeli party "wants to pursue an economic and social agenda more vigorously."

The former US president, along with dozens of foreign dignitaries, participated in a massive peace rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday to mark the 10th anniversary of the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Clinton helped broker the 1993 interim peace deal agreed upon by Rabin and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Source: Xinhua