Brown says new Israeli settlements undermine peace talks

British prime minister Gordon Brown sits under a stained glass window by Marc Chagall as he listens to his host, Israeli president Shimon Peres.
Photograph: David Silverman/Getty Images

MIDDLE EAST: BRITISH PRIME minister Gordon Brown denounced Israeli settlement construction yesterday, saying it was undermining peace, and pledged more financial aid to help the Palestinian economy as he began a two-day visit to Israel and the West Bank.

Mr Brown, who restated his belief that spurring economic growth in the Palestinian areas is crucial to the prospects for peace, also called on Israel to ease travel restrictions in the West Bank. But his harshest comments were aimed at Israel's settlement policy.

"I think the European Union is very clear on this matter: We want to see a freeze on settlements," he said.

"Settlement expansion has made peace harder to achieve," Mr Brown added at a joint press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

"It erodes trust, it heightens Palestinian suffering, it makes the compromises Israel needs to make for peace more difficult."

The British leader, who last year outlined an "economic road map" for peace in the Middle East, said his country would give the Palestinian Authority a further $60 million over and above the $500 million his government has already committed to promote economic development over the next three years - $30 million of the additional aid will be given as direct budgetary support, with some of the funds also being used to help train Mr Abbas' security forces.

For the aid to be effective, Mr Abbas said at the joint news conference, Israel would have to lift its tight restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank. "What is required for these investments is to assure the freedom of movement of goods and of people in order to overcome obstacles in economic development," he said.

Mr Brown outlined three areas of the Palestinian economy where he said efforts needed to be focused: building homes, promoting small businesses and creating jobs, in part by building industrial parks. "We will work to underpin the peace process with support for economic development," he said.

He also announced that London would host an international investment conference later this year that would focus on the Palestinian areas. "I believe that the Palestinian economy can become one of the most successful in the region," Mr Brown said.

Israel and the Palestinians agreed late last year to renew peace negotiations and pledged to hammer out the guidelines of a peace accord by the end of 2008.

But the talks have so far failed to produce any tangible progress and with both Mr Abbas and Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert politically embattled, the end-of-year deadline now looks highly unrealistic.

Mr Brown, who was to meet Mr Olmert last night, will today become the first British prime minister to address the Israeli parliament.

Guardian service adds : In a speech to the Knesset today Mr Brown is expected to recall the Holocaust as he delivers a blunt warning to Iran to end its "totally abhorrent" threat to destroy Israel.

Mr Brown will declare that Britain will stand by Israel when its "very right to exist" is under threat. The remarks will be seen as a signal that Britain could be prepared to support a military strike against Iran if all other diplomatic routes fail.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times