President Shimon Peres hosted a group of Arab leaders on Tuesday at his official state residence for a dinner, marking the end of the daily Muslim fast during the holy month of Ramadan. Peres said, "We are all descendents of our father Abraham and can coexist." <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Arabs also trace their roots back to the Jewish patriarch Abraham because he fathered Ishmael, from whom the Arabs descend.  

Some 200 Arabs attended the dinner, including the Jordanian and Turkish ambassadors to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Israel, Israel's Minister of Science Raleb Majadle, the founder of the Islamist Movement, and the Head of the Israeli Arab Monitoring Committee.

"We weren't born to hate. The G-d you pray to in Arabic, is the G-d we pray to in Hebrew," Peres added.

Peres said that Islam was important to the world, which would be more "miserable" without the Muslim religion just as it would be worse off without Buddhism, or Christianity, as well as Judaism.

Israel has fought seven wars since the re-establishment of the Jewish State, Peres told those gathered. He explained that "we do not aspire to be conquerors" and reminded his hosts that Israel surrendered the Sinai to Egypt and water resources to Jordan.