JERUSALEM (EJP)--- French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal arrived in Israel on Sunday for a series of meetings with top politicians ahead of the elections in France next April.

Royal met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and was due to hold talks with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert later in the day.

Following Abbas’s recent announcement that efforts to form a unity between his Fatah party and the ruling Hamas has failed, Royal said she believed that a unity government “would be a substantial process toward recognizing the principles of the Quartet.”

For his part, Abbas said: "There are good relations tie us with France, we appreciate France for its economic and political support to the Palestinian people and its willingness to push the peace process forward.”

At a press conference in Gaza, Abas said that he talked with Royal about the truce in the Gaza Strip and the efforts of expanding it to be implemented in West Bank.

Abbas stressed the importance of Royal’s visit, noting the historical relations with the French Socialist Party.

Royal said that her responsibility is to build a future for the Palestinian youth, similar to the French, adding that she shares their vision of establishing an independent and viable Palestinian state in the Middle East.

She said that the key principles are the Palestinian people have the right of statehood and to live, and Israel has the right in security.

Lebanon visit

The Socialist former French family minister began her trip on Thursday in Lebanon and has also stopped over in Jordan.

She has no meetings planned with Hamas although this possibility has not been ruled out.

During her trip to Lebanon she condemned comments by a Hezbullah lawmaker who compared the Israeli bombing of Lebanon in the summer to the Nazi’s bombing of France.

"The Nazism that spilled our blood and usurped our independence and sovereignty was no less wrong than the Nazism that occupied France," Ali Ammar said.

Royal, who apparently had a different translator to those of the French reporters who heard the comments, said they were "unacceptable, abominable and hateful," and said she "Would have left the room" if she had heard them.

Close race

According to a poll released on Sunday Royal and her main rival Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy are neck and neck in the Presidential race.

The poll in the "Journal du Dimanche" by the IFOP Institute showed that 31 percent of voters support Royal to become while Sarkozy had 30 percent. In third place was the right wing National Front leader Jean Marie Le Pen.