Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Thursday that the failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has helped fuel unrest in Egypt and elsewhere in the Mideast. During a visit to Paris, Fayyad said protesters’ complaints stem not only from internal problems in their own societies, but also from “a frustration, a desperation because of the failure of efforts to solve the Palestinian problem.”
Fillon said France would be willing to host a new conference in June on the condition it includes a “political dimension, beyond financial and economic aid,” – a major step on the road to the creation of a Palestinian state in 2011, he added. Fayyad’s visit came amid continuing clashes in central Cairo between anti-government protesters and backers of the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.