UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the Middle East Quartet 'strongly supports' Palestinian efforts to establish their own state.
Mr Ban is in the Middle East to encourage the resumption of peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.
'The Quartet has sent a clear and strong message: we are strongly supporting your efforts to establish an independent and viable Palestinian state,' Mr Ban told Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad.
Before their formal talks, Mr Fayyad took Mr Ban to a vantage point above Ramallah to show him a large swathe of West Bank territory under exclusive Israeli control and off limits to Palestinian development.
Following the tour Mr Ban said: 'I have seen for myself plainly and clearly how Palestinians are living under such restriction and limitation.
'Even in your territory you are not able to develop or even maintain a normal economic life.'
Mr Ban's visit comes a day after the Middle East Quartet called on Israel to stop building settlements.
The group comprising the UN, the EU, the US and Russia has set a target of 2012 for a final deal as it seeks to kick-start the stalled peace process.
Israel last week announced plans to build 1,600 new homes for settlers in east Jerusalem.
However, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman condemned the Quartet's statement and said it had harmed the chances for a peace deal.
Elsewhere, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell will hold talks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in Paris this evening to discuss the situation in Jerusalem.
Palestinian dies in clashes with Israeli army
A Palestinian youth was killed and another seriously wounded during a clash with Israeli troops in the West Bank.
The youths had been taking part in a demonstration in which stones were thrown at Israeli soldiers near the West Bank city of Nablus.
Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said the youth was killed by Israeli gunfire.
The Israeli military said the soldiers did not fire live ammunition, but used riot control weapons such as teargas and rubber-coated bullets to disperse the Palestinians who were approaching a nearby Jewish settlement.
