London - Former British prime minister and special Middle East envoy Tony Blair said Tuesday he remained optimistic that current international efforts to end the fighting in Gaza could be successful.

"If we want to resolve this, we can," Blair, who is the special envoy of the so-called Middle East Quartet, said in a BBC interview from Jerusalem.

There could be an immediate stop to the fighting if "clear action" was taken to stop the supply of arms and money to Hamas, said Blair, indicating that the issue was at the centre of Egyptian-led talks with the militant Palestinian group.

Although the situation in Gaza was "hell," he did not believe that the current fighting between Israel and Hamas would necessarily lead to a further radicalization among Palestinians, said Blair.

"There is a risk but we can't be sure of that," Blair said on the issue of radicalization. However, it was clear that, given the size of Gaza and the close link between Hamas and the population, the situation in Gaza was "bound to be hell."

Blair avoided criticism of the Israeli ground offensive. He urged Hamas to stop firing rockets at Israel and said that unity between Hamas and the more moderate Palestinian Authority (PA) was vital for any future resolution of the conflict.

"If you don't get Palestinian unity, you don't get a Palestinian state," said Blair. "There will only be one Palestinian state, not two."

He said it was important that countries like Egypt were currently talking to Hamas, and stressed that most western countries "want to get into a dialogue with Hamas."

However, for any negotiations on a two-state solution to be successful, there had to be an "understanding on key principles," said Blair.

Citing his experience in the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland, Blair said one of these principles was the acceptance that political objectives could be reached only by peaceful means.

In the Middle East context, three main goals had to be established: A credible political process, real change on the ground and Palestinian unity, said Blair. (dpa)