Articles | Brown visits Jerusalem

Brown's £30m gift to Palestinians

Published: Sunday, 20 July 2008, 7:43AM

Gordon Brown has announced Britain will give an extra £30 million to the Palestinian Authority.

The funding is part of an ongoing financial package for economic and social development in the territories.

Speaking at a press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, the Prime Minister also pledged to expand British help with training for Palestinian police and security forces.

And he said that the security wall erected by Israel along its border with the West Bank was "graphic evidence of the urgent need for justice for the Palestinian people" and an end to the occupation of Palestinian land.

The Prime Minister said last year's Annapolis conference provided an opportunity for peace based on a two-state solution, with a viable Palestine and secure Israel divided along pre-1967 borders and sharing Jerusalem as their capital.

But he made clear that progress will depend on securing an end to violence and a resolution to rows over Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

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."

Britain has already pledged £250 million in both cash support and the provision of expertise over the three years to 2011.