Palestinians need own state for peace chance: Blair

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Palestinians must have their own state otherwise there will be little chance of the violence that has beset the region ever ceasing, Middle East envoy Tony Blair said on Wednesday.

Earlier, Israel's new foreign minister, ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, said Israel was not bound by commitments to work for the creation of a Palestinian state.

"The alternative to a two-state solution is a one-state solution. If there is a one-state solution there is going to be a big fight," said Blair, the representative of the Quartet of international mediators in the Middle East.

Blair was responding to a question about the two-state solution at a news conference in Brussels rather than to Lieberman's comments directly.

The envoy said the arrival of new governments in both the United States and Israel provided a chance to make 2009 a year for progress in the peace process.

A former British prime minister, Blair is the Middle East envoy for the quartet of Middle East peace negotiators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

Asked whether he advocated contacts with Islamic militant group Hamas as part of efforts to secure peace, Blair said only that Egypt was in communication with the group on behalf of the international community.

Blair has previously said that Hamas should be part of the Middle East peace process but has not engaged with them himself.

(Reporting by Sarah Luehrs; editing by Mark John and Matthew Jones)