Palestinian PM meets US Secretary of State

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Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, has held talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.

Wednesday's meeting was Fayyad's first with a member of US President Barack Obama's administration. And in the Gaza Strip, Hamas has condemned Israeli forces for intercepting a boat carrying humanitarian aid to the territory.

Economy, security and political issues are on top of their agenda.

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, said, "Prime Minister Fayyad is someone who has worked very hard on behalf of the Palestinian people. I'm looking forward to our meeting and discussing ways forward on economic and security and political progress and I thank his very much for being here."

Fayyad was expected to ask the US to speed up promised donations of nine hundred million US dollars to the Palestinian National Authority.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Hamas condemned the Israeli navy for intercepting of a ship carrying foreign peace activists who were trying to break the Israeli blockade. The ship was forced to sail to a port in Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, at the State Department in Washington, July 1, 2009. REUTERS/Jason Reed