"If some European countries put as much pressure on Saddam Hussein as on (US President George W.) Bush, there would have been no war," he told a press conference in Montreal.

"Saddam Hussein had to be disarmed (and) there were no other means," said the Nazi concentration camp survivor and author who was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1986 for his message "of peace, atonement and human dignity."

The press conference was organized by the Quebec-Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Montreal Jewish community's official public action group on behalf of Israel.

The Romanian-born Wiesel, who became a US citizen in 1963, said he did "not justify" war and was "not comfortable" with it, but that he was not a pacifist and believed in the "right to interference".

He added: "You can accuse me of being naive, but I think in all conscience that this war was necessary."

Dismissing suggestions that he is a "hostage of the American right", Wiesel said: "I am not against paradoxes, I take them on, as someone who opposes war, who has seen war and who hates war."

The US-led war on Iraq, he said, "will change the world."

He said he was optimistic over prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians after the appointment of Mahmud Abbas, a moderate known as Abu Mazen, as Palestinian prime minister.

Stressing that Palestine Authority President Yasser Arafat had been "a big disappointment" for the Israelis, Wiesel said he hoped a three-month moratorium on terrorist actions would be called "to give a chance" to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"The problem is terrorism (but) it will be necessary one day to settle this tragedy" in the Middle East, he said.

WAR.WIRE