Ramallah, West Bank: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said yesterday the United States must 'prepare well' to ensure that a Middle East peace conference expected in November leads to a deal on Palestinian statehood.
Fayyad said a successful conference should produce a 'clear agreement' on a sovereign Palestinian state based on Israel's withdrawal from land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, and a 'binding timeframe' for its implementation.
"We don't see the benefit of convening the conference without securing conditions for its success for all parties, foremost being the Palestinians," Fayyad said in a speech at an economic conference here.
He said a deal must include 'international guarantees' on final-status issues such as borders, the fate of occupied Jerusalem and the issue of refugees
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been pushing in talks with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert for an explicit "framework agreement".
