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![Brown's first visit to the Middle East attempts to bolster trade in the region [AFP]](http://mwcnews.net/images/stories/UK/2/3/4/5/6/Brown-Abbas.jpg "Brown's first visit to the Middle East attempts to bolster trade in the region [AFP]") | | Brown's first visit to the Middle East attempts to bolster trade in the region [AFP] |
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, has arrived in the Middle East for two days of talks to promote "an economic road map for peace".
"Israeli settlements are a hindrance to peace and must be frozen," he said on Sunday at a news conference held in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, also spoke at the conference that marked Brown's first visit to the Middle East since becoming prime minister in June 2007. "Israel is not concerned with the principles of the Annapolis conference, namely freezing settlement expansion," Abbas said. Brown later promised to offer additional financial support and police training to the Palestinian government and said that economic prosperity was key to peace, and urged an easing of Israeli travel restrictions in the West Bank that contribute to hindering commerce. Brown is to move on to Jerusalem where he will Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, following a stop in Iraq where he will meet Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister.
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Tags: Israeli settlements Brown
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