Tel Aviv  - Israel needs quickly to advance the peace process, visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Wednesday as he began a round of meetings with Israeli officials.

"The coming days area test for the Israeli government, since time is not on the side of both parties (to the israel-Palestinian peace process)," Israeli media quoted Kouchner as saying has he met Israeli Minorities Minister Avishai Braverman.

Kouchner arrived in Israel after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday and urging Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks from the point they reached when suspended one year ago, rather than beginning from scratch.

He also called on Abbas to remain in office, saying his leadership of the Palestinian people was indispensable to the success of the peace process.

Abbas said last week he would not contest the next Palestinian Presidential elections, after Israel refused his demand to freeze settlement activity in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, which the Jewish state captured in the 1967 Middle East war. (dpa)