Cape Town — Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, arrives in South Africa today on a state visit at a critical period in the troubled history of the Middle East, with the South African government eager to receive a briefing from him on potentially decisive recent political changes in Israel/ Palestine and their implications for the region.

The visit of the Palestinian leader who took over from the late Yasser Arafat comes a day after he swore in a new Palestinian government comprising members of the militant Hamas party, which won elections in Palestinian territories two months ago.

And in Israeli elections held two days ago, the new centrist Kadima party, formed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a few months ago, emerged as the strongest political player in Israel with its vow to unilaterally redraw the final borders of that country.

At a briefing on Mr Abbas's visit yesterday, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said government was eagerly anticipating a briefing from the Palestinian Authority president, who comes from a Hamas rival, the Fatah faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.

Mr Pahad said that the government's view was that Hamas was elected as the choice of leadership of the Palestinian people in a free and fair election, and that the Palestinians should not be "collectively punished" by international donors and Israel who had frozen aid and funds to the Palestinians, largely on the basis of Hamas's history of its clashes with Israel and its refusal to recognize the Jewish state.

"It is our belief that those of us who have been consistently clamouring for democracy cannot now but accept the results of those [Palestinian] elections," said Mr Pahad.

He said that South Africa would engage in relations with Hamas and would respect its election victory, but suggested that the government would seek to play a moderating influence on the militant party by reminding it that its coming into power in Palestinian territories was a direct result of the same, historic Oslo agreements that it now refused to recognize.

The Oslo accords essentially call for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank and affirm the Palestinian right to self-government within those areas through the creation of the Palestinian Authority, which Hamas has now taken control of.

At the same time, the Israeli government recognized the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, which includes the Fatah faction that Mr Abbas leads, as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people while the PLO recognised the right of the state of Israel to exist and renounced terrorism, violence and its desire for the destruction of Israel.

Despite coming under severe pressure since its election victory, Hamas has rebuffed demands to recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and abide by previous peace accords.

Hamas retains its right to act against Israelis in the occupied territories but has indicated it is willing to enter into a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

The South African government's position, Mr Pahad said, was in support of a two-state solution, which means a "genuine Palestinian state living side by side with an Israeli state beyond secure borders is the only way forward".

But he added that South Africa would continue to interact with whatever authority the Palestinians had chosen, adding that he and Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils would visit the region next week "to get a better sense of what the consequences are of this election victory".

"Our own view is that we should interact with Hamas to convince them that their victory was a result of the Oslo process and it is in the interests of the Palestinian people to respect all elements of the Oslo process which includes a peaceful solution based on a two-state position," Mr Pahad said.

Hamas had a responsibility to meet the wishes of the Palestinian people, he said, to meet the wishes of the Palestinian people to move towards the process of finding a peaceful solution based on two states.

He added that South Africa hoped that President Abbas, who comes from the Fatah party, which participated under Mr Arafat in the Oslo accord, "would brief us fully about his understanding of where things are going" and how he can see what South Africa can do to help the Palestinians and Israel to move towards a peaceful resolution of their conflict.

As Mr Abbas is coming directly from the Arab Summit, the South African government is also hoping for a briefing from the outcome of that gathering, which has called for a peaceful solution based on an initiative of 2002, which offers Israel peace in exchange for relinquishing land occupied by Israel in the Middle East war of 1967, where Israeli settlements remain illegal under international law.

With characteristic - and now historic and well-founded - South African optimism at solving a seemingly intractable political problems, combined with a strategy of sourcing advantage out of crisis, Mr Pahad said that the confluence of recent developments in Israel/Palestine showed that "an opportunity has arisen for real movement forward on the peace process".

"This is our view because we believe that if we do not solve the Palestinian-Israeli issue, it will have serious consequences on the other issues like Iraq, Iran, Syria - in fact the whole region ... we have to try to find a solution as quickly as possible if we want to find solutions to the other major, volatile issues that are developing in that region."

With tensions currently heightening in Lebanon as well, Mr Pahad added that the Middle East/ Palestine issue has been widely cited as the one "that has led to the greatest feeling of militancy within the Arab world ...".

Failure to solve the Palestine issue, he said, gives greater potential to "forces who are intent on fighting what is called a terrorist war".

Mr Kasrils and Mr Pahad plan to visit the Palestinian areas and Syria on their Middle East trip next week and hope also to meet the new Israeli leadership.

Apart from meeting President Mbeki at his Cape Town office tomorrow, Mr Abbas is to address parliament at noon tomorrow, after which he is expected to meet local political and religious leaders. On Saturday he is to pay a courtesy call on President Nelson Mandela.