"It is true that there are some complaints," Tzipi Livni told reporters after holding talks with UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

"There are some excuses that all of us can use or abuse in order to say something about the peace process or the peace negotiations," she said.

A senior Israeli defense official said last week that the Jewish state was in the process of building 20 housing units in the Jordan Valley settlement of Maskiot, in defiance of Palestinian and international calls to freeze such activity.

"As an Israeli, I can use the situation in the Gaza Strip to say, 'As long as Hamas controls Gaza Strip, there is no hope for peace,'" Livni said.

She said that under the US-sponsored Annapolis process launched last November, Israelis and Palestinians decided "not to let the situation on the ground interfere with" the peace talks that aim to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side with a secure Israel.

Livni's talks with Ban focused on Israeli security, Iran's nuclear ambitions and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Afterwards, she told reporters that she stressed the "very important" role of the United Nations in these matters.

Livni confirmed publicly for the first time Tuesday that she wanted to become prime minister.

Her comments came a day before Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, dogged by corruption probes, announced that he would step down mid-September.

"The internal situation in Israel doesn't affect the interests of Israel as a state and doesn't affect the fact that here I represent as the foreign minister these interests," Livni however said here.

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