A peaceful resolution in the Middle East depends on equal efforts among Israel, Palestinians and the United States, said the Palestinian Liberation Organization ambassador to the United States last night in the Boston University Law Auditorium.

“True peace in the Middle East depends on the help of the United States,” said ambassador Afif Safieh to more than 100 students. “The need of a decisive third party is essential. Since this world has only one true power, it must be the United States that helps bring peace.”

Safieh said the media has given a tough judgment to the PLO following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and when Hamas, a militant opposition group whose members have carried out suicide attacks against Israelis, was elected to power in the Jan. 26, 2006 Palestinian elections.

“I was extremely distressed by the media coverage of the Hamas election here in the United States,” Safieh said. “On the first day after the election, the news said that the election was a blow to the peace process in the Middle East. What peace process? I wanted to know. There has not been a peace process in the area for the last six years.”

Safieh answered pointed questions from the audience, stressing in the end that everyone in the conflict wants a quick resolution to a prolonged fight.

Safieh’s visit, sponsored by the BU International Students Consortium and other groups, was the first of two scheduled discussions about the continuing territorial battle in the Middle East between Palestinians and Israel. Don Gillerman, the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, will speak May 1.