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TOKYO (AFP) - Japan has offered 22.25 million dollars in grants to help the first Palestinian prime minister, Mahmud Abbas, establish a Palestinian state in the Middle East.

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The package is for "humanitarian assistance and state-building efforts by the Palestinians," the foreign ministry said in a statement received late Tuesday.

Japan will host a conference for confidence-building between Israelis and Palestinians on May 19 and 20.

Representatives from business circles, the government and the academic field from Israel and the Palestinian territories and Japan will participate, the ministry said.

"This conference is aimed at discussing a vision of mutual prosperity for both Israelis and Palestinians and the role of the international community," it said.

Abbas was overwhelmingly endorsed by the Palestinian parliament Tuesday as the first prime minister, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in Middle East peace efforts as killing continued in the territories.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, currently on a Middle Eastern tour, met Abbas Tuesday after holding talks with veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) to call for his support for Abbas.

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