Brown urges 'justice' for Palestinians

British prime minister Gordon Brown called for "justice" for the Palestinian people today, condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Brown also demanded an end to suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel.

In his first visit to the territories as premier, Mr Brown pledged another £30m of British support to help the Palestinians with economic reconstruction and improved security.

After talks with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Mr Brown delivered a message to both sides engaged in the peace process.

Having passed the massive Israeli security barrier on the way to the meeting in Bethlehem, Mr Brown said: "As a child, I learned about Bethlehem from the Bible as a symbol of peace and a symbol of hope.

"But today, the wall here is graphic evidence of the urgent need for justice for the Palestinian people and an end to the occupation and the need for a viable Palestinian state."

He went on to call for an end to Israeli incursions into Palestinian territories after Mr Abbas expressed his "deepest concern" that they were undermining last year's celebrated Annapolis agreement.

Brown said: "We want to see a freeze on settlements. Settlement expansion has made peace harder to achieve.

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

"So we are very clear - not just Britain but the whole of the European Union - what should be done."

But he added: "We are also clear that the violence must stop too.

"Terrorism is a major obstacle to Palestinian statehood and the efforts to ease movements and access restrictions must continue but there is a long way to go here too."

His comments came amid a whirlwind of meetings, with Israeli president Shimon Peres and Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad as well as Mr Abbas.

This evening he was holding discussions with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.

Brown also made visits to Jerusalem's Yad Vashem holocaust memorial and, in Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity, the reputed birthplace of Jesus Christ.

He was accompanied throughout the day by his wife, Sarah, who only joined him after his surprise visit to Iraq yesterday.

At a press conference with Mr Abbas earlier, Mr Brown promised to expand British help with training for Palestinian police and security forces and said he would host an investment conference in London.

He went on to urge those involved in the peace process to "seize the opportunity" as Mr Abbas said he was "hopeful" of an agreement, even by the end of the year.

"Of course there are difficult problems to be solved, and of course there are detailed negotiations to be had," he said.

"But I believe there is a will on the part of the international community, not just to do everything that we can to support the peace process, but to underpin that peace process with economic support for the Palestinian people."

UK business leaders and trade minister Digby Jones have also been in Israel and Palestine today for a conference about investment in the region.

Mr Brown said providing financial help would help the "great entrepreneurial flair" of the Palestinian people come alive.

"The prospect, in my view, of economic prosperity in the future is another impetus for the peace talks to be successful," he said.

Mr Abbas said he hoped a deal could be reached by the end of this year but acknowledged there were "obstacles" to overcome.

Speaking through a translator, he said: "We hope that we will reach some outcome but this depends on the will of everybody, and this can be achieved before the end of this year.

"This is our hope, but we will have to work hard so that we can achieve it and as we have mentioned, there are obstacles.

"We hope to remove them so that we can achieve this issue."

Both Mr Abbas and Mr Brown paid tribute to the work being done by former prime minister Tony Blair in his role as special envoy for the Middle East diplomatic quartet.

Mr Blair is not currently in the region.

Mr Brown said the projects his predecessor had been working on were "coming to fruition" and should be given the "support they deserve".

Mr Abbas added: "Since our talks with Mr Blair he has been working diligently and he has been following up - daily - details and working alongside all parties with all objectives.

"We appreciate his efforts and his work very much."