Israel dismissed reports Thursday that Spain, France and Italy are preparing a new Middle East peace initiative, saying that at the most, they were discussing "some Spanish ideas." Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced the plan at a summit in Spain with President Jacques Chirac of France. "Peace between Israel and the Palestinians means to a large extent peace on the international scene," Zapatero told a news conference. "We cannot remain impassive in the face of the horror that continues to unfold before our eyes," Zapatero said. Referring to the errant artillery shells in Beit Hanun and Wednesday's fatal rocket attack in Sderot, Zapatero said the violence "has reached a level of deterioration that requires determined, urgent action by the international community." He said that the peace plan will be presented to an EU summit next month, and that he hoped to win the backing of Britain and Germany. Chirac said France was "going to act jointly with the Spanish and Italian governments, with the cooperation of the EU" to initiate "moral and political reforms in the Middle East."