New York  - With the Israel-Hamas fighting showing no signs of a lull, Arab governments have called for talks in New York next week hoping to compel the UN Security Council to issue a ceasefire order to the warring parties, diplomats said Friday.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Morocco and Iraq, and the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, will be at UN headquarters to discuss their proposal for a ceasefire in the current conflict in Gaza Strip.

The Arabs have presented a draft resolution calling for a ceasefire, which was under discussion by UN legal experts. The proposal was not picked up by the 15-nation council on Wednesday because Western governments considered it anti-Israel.

The council's legal experts would have to revise the language in the text, which singled out and condemned only Israel. The version was rejected by the United States and Western governments on the council as one-sided.

The diplomats said the Arab ministers planned to meet Monday and then call for a new UN Security Council meeting.

Robert Serry, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process based in Jerusalem, said Friday any ceasefire to be declared in the fighting must be fully respected by both sides and followed by steps to solidify the end of hostilities.

Serry said an immediate ceasefire has become "imperative" to stop the destruction and killing in Gaza Strip that began a week ago.

"Much of Gaza Strip infrastructure has been destroyed while casualties have increased," Serry said in a teleconference from his office in Jerusalem with reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

He said Hamas militants now can fire missiles reaching targets 40 kilometres into Israel while at the same time Israeli tanks are poised at border with Gaza ready for a ground assault.

Serry said any solution to the current fighting should be comprehensive, involving a fully respected ceasefire, opening of crossings into Gaza and a role for the United Nations, which he said is the "only player" in Gaza.

"The Palestinian Authority should be part of the solution and future arrangements," Serry said.

The PA has been ousted from Gaza by Hamas militants who took over the territory with 1.5 million Palestinians, and has set up an administration in the West Bank.

"It's very clear that an immediate cessation of hostilities is absolutely vital, we must create now new conditions on the ground to ensure that the conflict won't happen again," Serry said. "The return to the status quo ante, or the previous situation, will not be enough."

He said the ceasefire would be the first step. He said "further arrangements" should be studied to solidify the ceasefire. Other elements, like the continuous reopening of the crossings, a commitment by Hamas to end the arms smuggling and rocket attacks, and respect of the ceasefire, should be discussed.

Bringing Gaza back under the control of PA and reunifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank is another element in the overall discussion, Serry said.

"The international community should step in to enable these (elements) to happen," Serry said.

The 15-nation council had not scheduled any meeting at UN headquarters on Friday, but it was not ruled out that a meeting would be held on Monday with the full participation of five new members - Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda - which were elected to serve two-year terms beginning in 2009.

The original ceasefire proposal suggested by the Arab League strongly condemned "the Israeli military attacks" that resulted in "thousands of civilians" killed or injured; called on Israel to "immediately cease its military attacks against the civilian population in Gaza, and scrupulously abide by its obligations, as the occupying power, under international law, including humanitarian and human rights law."

It would have called for the immediate protection of Palestinian civilians and the opening by Israel of crossings into Gaza.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN officials in the Middle East have condemned both sides in the conflict. Ban on Wednesday issued his strongest condemnation of the fighting, branding both Israel and Hamas as irresponsible in the use of weapons that killed civilians. (dpa)