WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Friday urged the United States to take the lead in getting Israel to accept an Arab League initiative that he said was the region's only chance for a lasting peace.

Writing in The New York Times, Siniora also questioned Israel's commitment to peace after a government report criticized its handling of last summer's war with the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, but did not examine its impact on peace prospects.

"Because of its unique role in the world, the United States has a responsibility to display leadership and courage in helping the two sides achieve a just and lasting peace," he said.

Leading a Mideast peace initiative is also in the United States' interest, since it "would offer a gateway to reconciliation with the Muslim world during these times of increased divisiveness and radicalism," said Siniora, whose government has U.S. backing.

Under the Arab League's 2002 initiative that it reiterated in March, Israel would gain full recognition of the league's 22 member states if it withdraws from all territory it seized in the 1967 Middle East war.

The plan would clear the way for an independent Palestinian state on what Siniora said was only 22 percent of the territory of historic Palestine, which he called, "a high price but one the Arabs are willing to pay."

Siniora criticized Israel for launching a war against Hezbollah last summer after it seized two Israeli soldiers.

The war left 1,200 people, including about 900 civilians, dead in Lebanon, where Israeli planes pounded southern Beirut neighborhoods and crippled the country's infrastructure. Still, Israel failed to stop the Syrian- and Iranian-backed group from firing some 4,000 rockets into northern Israel.

"The July war proved that militarism and revenge are not the answer to instability; compromise and diplomacy are," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has faced calls to step down since a critical report by the Winograd Commission, which is investigating the war, concluded last week that he was responsible for launching the offensive without a proper plan.

But Siniora said the panel's report missed the point.

"The Winograd Commission's failure to discuss the war's implications for peace prospects leads one to wonder whether Israel would rather allow this conflict to fester as long as it is under relatively controlled conditions," he said.

Olmert was scheduled to visit Jordan on May 16 for a conference and a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah that is expected to focus in part on the Arab League's plan. He is also scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume U.S.-brokered talks delayed by his political crisis.

AlertNet news is provided by