Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, yesterday promised to push for peace agreements with the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries, but stopped short of endorsing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, writes Tobias Buck in Jerusalem and Guy Dinmore in Rome.

Speaking in Rome, at the start of his first official trip to Europe as foreign minister, he said: "This government's goal is not to produce slogans or make pompous declarations, but to reach concrete results." The Israeli government has refused to back creating an independent Palestinian state, the cornerstone of recent efforts to end the conflict, sparking worldwide criticism.