Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (L) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan at the official residence in Tokyo November 24, 2010. Fayyad is on a 4-day visit from November 23-26. – AFP Photo

TOKYO: Japan on Thursday urged Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad to resume peace talks with Israel, offering him aid amounting to 100 million dollars this fiscal year, the government said.

Japan is one of the top donors for the Palestinian territories, providing more than one billion dollars in aid since 1993.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan met Fayyad in Tokyo and “strongly urged the peace negotiations to resume between the Palestinians and Israel”, the government said in a statement.

Kan told the visiting Palestinian premier that Japan's aid for the territories' nation-building efforts will be worth about 100 million dollars this financial year, the statement said.

Direct peace talks between the two sides remain stalled because of Israeli settlement activity on the West Bank.

In response, Fayyad said the Palestinians will engage in the peace negotiations, the statement said, without elaborating further. – AFP