Brown backs Palestinian funding

Mr Brown met Mr Abbas at Downing Street for talks

Britain is to co-sponsor an event in Bethlehem aimed at boosting investment in the Palestinian territories, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced.

Speaking after talks with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Mr Brown said the conference would also look at ways to support a viable Palestinian state.

But the prime minister said reforms were necessary and rocket attacks against Israel had to end.

On Monday international donors agreed a £7bn aid package for the Palestinians.

The cash to help create a viable Palestinian state was agreed at a Paris conference of major donors - weeks after talks in Annapolis launched a fledgling peace process.

Mr Brown said the two conferences showed that progress was being made and 2008 would be a year of great opportunity.

"This is a solid base for progress on which we will build," Mr Brown said.

He said he would work with his predecessor and Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair in supporting the peace process.

That includes co-sponsoring an "investors" conference in Bethlehem in spring 2008.

The prime minister said it would look at ways of creating jobs and prosperity to tackle unemployment, and at ways to support a viable Palestinian state.

As chancellor, Mr Brown showed an interest in economic development for the Palestinians - on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2005 he got Israeli and Palestinian economic ministers together for the first time in many years.