Israeli and Palestinian teams should compete in the 2013 Mediterranean Games, Italy's foreign minister said as he looked forward to this year's event in the earthquake-hit region of Abruzzo.
The four-yearly competition involves 23 nations with links to the Mediterranean, but not Israel.
"Italy is working so that Israeli and Palestinian teams will compete in the next Mediterranean Games in Greece," Franco Frattini told a news conference.
Frattini said this year's Games in Pescara, from June 26 to July 5, would be the perfect opportunity to spread a message of peace given that the region had come together following April's earthquake.
The inclusion of Israeli and Palestinian athletes in the next edition "would complete a region of peace," he added.