JERUSALEM, February 19, 2008 (WAFA)-Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Tuesday that little progress was being made in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and a peace agreement likely won't be possible by the end of the year if the pace isn't quickened.

Telling a delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem, Fayyad said that "my own sense is that not enough has happened over the past nearly three months that could suggest to me that a treaty per se is going to be possible by the end of 2008," Fayyad told. "The pace has to be stepped up significantly."

Progress in talks will create a positive dynamic, generating support in Gaza for the moderate Palestinian government.

Fayyad said the U.S. Congress had set aside $218 million in aid for the Palestinians, and he expected the funds would be transferred next month. The money is part of $7.7 billion pledged to the Palestinians by international donors at a conference in Paris in December.

Fayyad said the Palestinians were likely to hold another major investors conference in Bethlehem "immediately after" a World Economic Forum event scheduled to take place in Sharm el-Sheikh in mid-May.