Fayyad said during a meeting with visiting US Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the “suppressive control by (Israeli) occupation, the settlement expansion and the military incursions in Palestinian territories” undermines the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) readiness to establish a state.
The Western-backed prime minister stressed the necessity of ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands occupied in 1967, the Palestinian people’s right of self determination, and the establishment of this state by September 2011.
He also warned of the Israeli military escalation in Gaza Strip.
For his part, Gates praised the achievements of PA despite the challenges and difficult conditions it faces.
The official WAFA news agency quoted Gates as saying that the US Administration is “committed to achieve peace based on two-state solution.”
Gates is on a tour throughout the Middle East reported to be part of a farewell trip ahead of his planned retirement this summer.
He also met with Israeli leaders on Thursday and on early Friday before meeting with Fayyad.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said that Israel will keep its troops on the eastern boundary of the West Bank, which borders Jordan, in any future agreement with the Palestinians.
Fayyad rejected Netanyahu’s announcement saying that there would be no Palestinian state without Jordan Valley and without East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Jordan Valley and East Jerusalem “are undivided parts of the Palestinian land that has been occupied since 1967,” Fayyad said in his weekly speech on Wednesday.
