Former U.S. president Bill Clinton said while in Halifax Wednesday that a ceasefire is urgently needed in the Middle East and the West needs to be involved in putting an international peacekeeping force with real authority along the Israel-Lebanon border.

"If we don't show a willingness to participate, this thing could quickly disintegrate," Clinton said at a sold-out event at the Halifax Metro Centre.

Bill Clinton speaks in Halifax on Wednesday.
(CBC)

Clinton's speaking engagement, during which he also heaped praise on Canada's involvement in Afghanistan, was followed by a question-and-answer session with former Canadian ambassador to Washington Frank McKenna.

Unsurprisingly, the former president who tried to broker a peace deal between Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2000, carefully considered his comments on the current crisis in the Middle East.

Clinton said that, like Hamas in the Palestinian territories, Hezbollah has followed a strategy of, "when it suits us we'll be a political party and when it suits us we'll go to war," thereby violating a UN resolution to disarm.

However Clinton wasn't wholly supportive of the weight of the Israeli response to the capture of two soldiers and the killing of eight others on July 12.

"I understand why they wanted to degrade [Hezbollah's] military capacity, but I question whether it was worth it to wreck the airport because the airport was the symbol of the new Lebanon."

Clinton characterized the build-up of Hezbollah's military capabilities in recent years as "alarming."

He said that NATO is probably the only international group with the power to keep peace in the region, but admitted it is already overcommitted in other parts of the world.

Clinton said he was heartened by Israel's stated willingness to accept an international force in the Middle East.

He said he's also encouraged by the fact that Gulf states such as Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia appear to understand the danger of "religious radicalism" and have not publicly supported Hezbollah.

Tickets for the 45-minute speech in Halifax went for $99. Thursday, Clinton will join McKenna, current U.S. ambassador to Canada David Wilkins and several other corporate and government officials at a golf event McKenna hosts each summer in the Maritimes.