British finance minister Gordon Brown on Thursday urged the international community to back a proposed plan aimed at regenerating the Palestinian economy battered by years of conflict with Israel.
Speaking at a business conference in Tel Aviv, Brown said he aimed to have the plan, which he has called an "economic road map", ready by December.
"I believe the whole international community should and will come together to support an economic plan for the Palestinian Authority," he said in a speech warmly applauded by a mostly Israeli audience. "One aim of the plan should be to create new jobs including the prospect of 100,000 jobs in Gaza itself."
Brown resumed a visit to the Middle East which was interrupted on Wednesday when he had to return to London in a fruitless attempt to help the British government avoid defeat in a parliamentary vote on anti-terrorist measures.
Brown's trip has increased speculation that he is taking a greater interest in foreign policy because he is preparing to take over from Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said last year he would not stand for a fourth term.
Brown believes more economic growth, enterprise and job creation would give people in the region, which has been hit by five years of Israeli-Palestinian violence, a greater stake in peace and security.
Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in September after 38 years of occupation, stirring hopes of economic progress in the impoverished coastal territory. But a recent surge in violence has dampened prospects for renewed peace moves.
Brown aims to present the plan to finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of Seven rich nations who will meet in London on December 2-3 with Israeli and Palestinian finance ministers present.
During his Middle East visit, Brown helped bring together for the first time newly appointed Israeli Finance Minister Ehud Olmert and his Palestinian counterpart, Salam Fayyad.
"A lot has been achieved in the last few months. There is a determination in the Palestinian Authority to create a new dynamic of co-operation with Israel," Olmert told reporters in a joint news conference with Brown and Fayyad.
"It is important to create a momentum so we will not miss an opportunity." European Union finance ministers agreed in September they should play a leading role in assisting the region's development and the work of international envoy James Wolfensohn, charged with co-ordinating non-military aspects of Israel's Gaza withdrawal and efforts to rebuild the Palestinian Authority.
Unemployment in the Palestinian Authority area runs at 25 percent with more than 50 percent of people living below the poverty line, British officials said. Jobs and incomes have also been hit hard in Israel amid the conflict with the Palestinians.
"Giving people jobs gives them a stake in the future and they begin to see the unacceptable costs of violence is not just losing security but also losing prosperity," Brown said.
Brown said earlier on Thursday that Britain, together with Norway, would hold a donor conference for the Palestinian territories in London on December 7. But Brown said that donor countries would want assurances from the Palestinians on fiscal discipline and transparency.
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