Middle East peace deal possible - British PM

PEACE HOPES: British PM Gordon Brown says Middle East deal is doable. (Getty Images)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted late on Sunday that the gap between Israel and the Palestinians can be bridged and that a landmark Middle East peace deal is achieveable.

After talks in Jerusalem and Bethlehem with leaders from both sides, Brown said he was confident that all outstanding issues preventing an agreement could be hammered out.

Brown clashed with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert over his demand to freeze the building of settlements in the West Bank and pledged new aid to the Palestinians as part of efforts to kick-start their economy .

Brown was making his first visit to Israel and the West Bank since becoming premier in June last year.

US-sponsored talks between the two sides are aimed at resolving the conflict before US President George W. Bush leaves office next January.

However, the talks have become bogged down amid violence in the Islamist Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the expansion of Jewish settlements.

Asked by newswire AFP whether he was confident that a deal could be reached on schedule, Brown said: "When I say the difficulties can be bridged, that the problems that I have had described to me I believe can be solved, then I think there is an opportunity within our grasp.

"There is a sense from what I have heard today that people feel that they can get to a solution. The sooner that happens, the better. I'm urging people to move forward with as great speed as possible."

He told reporters that stakeholders should not lose sight of the "big prize" of a comprehensive settlement.

"What separates the sides is not unbridgeable. My own view is that there is good will to move these things forward.

"My advice is to concentrate on the main elements of a final peace agreement but...all the central issues that are preventing a resolution of the whole Israeli-Palestinian issue will have to be sorted out."

Brown crossed Israel's separation barrier for talks in the West Bank town of Bethlehem with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Salam Fayyad.

"We have pledged 500 million dollars for economic development in Palestine over three years to 2011," Brown said after meeting Abbas.

"I can announce today a further commitment of 60 million dollars," Brown said, bringing total British aid in 2008 to 175 million dollars.

Abbas thanked Brown for his support as the Scot called on Israel to lift checkpoints in the West Bank and halt the growth of Jewish settlements.

Brown said their expansion had "made peace harder to achieve."

Settlement expansion "erodes trust, it heightens Palestinian suffering, it makes the compromises Israel will need to make for peace more difficult," Brown said, adding that there must also be a halt to violence on both sides.

Olmert admitted Brown had criticised Israel's settlement policy to his face.

"I tried to explain to you the restraint which we put on ourselves on the one hand and the need to keep the pace of life going on the other," he said.

"While you disagree with us, I hope you understand better the position of Israel."

In keeping with his "economic roadmap" to peace, Brown pledged support for a new mortgage finance authority which he said would help to finance some 30,000 new Palestinian homes and generate up to 50,000 new jobs.

Brown called for increased international investment in the territories, saying "Palestine is open for business."

He and former World Bank economist Fayyad hosted a meeting of top British and Palestinian business leaders to boost investment in Gaza and the West Bank.

Prosperity would "make the cost of ever returning to violence so high and so unacceptable that the vast majority will not want to have anything to do with those who preach violence," Brown said.

Fayyad who said the Palestinian economy had "been ravaged for many, many years" and was "performing way below potential," blaming the Israeli military crackdown that followed the 2000 Palestinian uprising.

Brown has been invited to address the Israeli parliament on Monday - the first time a British premier will make a speech to the Knesset.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM