Palestinian PM pleads case for unity

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad insisted unified authority in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip was "absolutely essential" to progress, in a BBC radio programme broadcast Saturday.

The Palestinian Authority needed to have sole control over arms in the territories for any unity to be enduring, he said in the panel debate, recorded in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The private investors vital for kick-starting the Palestinian economy would never be attracted to the territories unless they had confidence that they would remain stable, he added.

Fayyad was speaking at a debate that also included the Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair and Israel's Defence Minister and deputy prime minister Ehud Barak.

Tony Blair,...