Israel this week issued a formal rejection of a recent offer by former US President Jimmy Carter and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to mediate a ceasefire between the Jewish state and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip.

Carter and Annan sent their proposal to Israel several weeks ago, and noted that South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Irish President Mary Robinson would also be part of the mediation team.

Carter, Annan, Tutu and Robinson have for decades been among the foremost international critics of Israel's right to defend itself against Arab Muslim terrorism and have regularly lent credibility to groups like Hamas that openly reject the Jewish state's very right to exist.

Nevertheless, Israel remained diplomatic in its response to what many viewed as a duplicitous offer of help by explaining that "at this time it would not be right to introduce more players into a diplomatic process that is already in a complex stage."