French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, on a visit to the Palestinian territories, on Saturday called for a Palestinian state to be set up as quickly as possible and said he would ask the Israelis to make their best effort to help bring that about.

Kouchner made the comments after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah.

We are determined to continue in the (peace) process that cannot achieve its results without the establishment of Palestinian state as quickly as possible.

He also said he would press Israel to freeze settlement activity and called on Palestinians to halt rocket attacks on Israel. Kouchner is expected to hold talks with Israeli leaders on Sunday.

The French Foreign Minister earlier toured the biblical town of Bethlehem and urged tourists from around the world to visit Jesus' traditional birthplace, as part of efforts to revive the battered Palestinian economy.

In December, France co-hosted a pledging conference in which international donors promised to pay 7.7 billion US dollars in aid to the Palestinians over three years.