Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday that an Arab peace plan is no substitute for direct negotiations with the Palestinians, and urged Arab leaders to prod the Palestinians into making concessions with Israel.

Livni spoke Monday at the first Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting that was open to the media.

She added that it would not be possible to end the conflict with the Palestinians with a military incursion into the Gaza strip. Instead, she said, a military action would only cause damage and bolster extremists who want to see the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority fail.

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The foreign minister went on to say that "in order for Israel to exist as a democratic Jewish state, in a way that does not contradict itself, we must achieve a situation in which there are two sovereign states."

In a two-state situation, Livni explained, the Palestinians would be able to evoke the right of return and enter a Palestinian state, not Israel.

Livni said that it is imperative that all the committee members agree on the method with which to go about negotiating with the Palestinians. A permanent solution however, she said, is not realistic at this time. "The fact is," she said, "that at the head of the Palestinian government stands an extremist religious terror organization."

Livni also said that the foreign ministry is making efforts to prevent the Hezbollah from rearming itself, and to free the captured soldiers. She said that Israel can currently protect itself from the Hezbollah threat using tools provided by United Nations Security Council resolutions.