Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    BERLIN, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from more than 40 countries met Tuesday in Berlin to discuss ways to improve Palestine's security and justice systems, which are considered vital for the Middle East peace process.

    Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are among the officials attending the one-day conference.

    German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the main goal of the meeting is to provide support to strengthen Palestinian Authority so that it can take charge of the security in Palestine.

    "The Berlin conference is expected to ensure the financing of a consolidated and feasible short-term measure package to continuously improve the security in the West Bank, including improving the training for 6000 to 7000 Palestinian civilian police, renovating police stations and better equipping Palestinian police," according to a statement by the German Foreign Ministry.

    "Even Palestinian public prosecutors and courts should benefit from the projects," the statement added.

    The conference will be followed in the evening by a meeting of the Middle East Quartet -- the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations, the first of such talks since a ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip last week.

    The EU has planned to send more judges, prosecutors and other legal experts to Palestine and expand its EUPOL COPPS - EU Police Mission for the Palestinian Territories, to 70 from 33 in the coming months.

    Diplomats say some 56 million U.S. dollars will be used to improve Palestine's judicial system and modernize its police force over the coming three years. The funding was expected to come from the 7.4 billion U.S. dollars raised at a donors' conference held in Paris in December.