JERUSALEM, March 24 (Reuters) - Israel will try to ease some travel restrictions within the occupied West Bank but is not ready to commit to removing checkpoints as demanded by the Palestinians, Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday. Israel is under increasing U.S. pressure to take steps to ease restrictions on Palestinian travel and trade to bolster peace talks with Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas. Launched at a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last November with the goal of reaching a statehood agreement before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office next January, the talks have shown little sign of progress so far. In a visit to an Israeli checkpoint, Barak said the planned changes were meant to make it easier for Palestinian business owners to travel within the West Bank, where Abbas's Fatah faction holds sway. Israeli officials said the gestures were likely to be announced before a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later this week. "In the coming period, we are planning to concentrate efforts to ease up on the population and to promote economic projects," Barak said without offering any details. He said the army was considering whether to remove additional barriers, but said it was too soon to commit to making changes. "It's still too early to give an answer," Barak said. He said the checkpoints, roadblocks and dirt mounds prevented militants from carrying out attacks by forcing them to travel through "bottlenecks" that make it harder for them to enter Israel. The Palestinians say they are collective punishment and want the United States to put pressure on Israel to remove them to allow greater freedom of movement and trade. During a visit to Israel and the West Bank over the weekend, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney assured Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that Washington would never pressure Israel to take steps that threaten its security. Rice has said that neither Israel nor the Palestinians have done nearly enough to meet their obligations under a long-stalled "road map" peace plan. The plan calls on Israel to halt all settlement activity and uproot Jewish outposts built without government authorisation in the West Bank. The 2003 road map calls on the Palestinians to rein in militants. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Adam Entous; Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader dismissed as prime minister by President Mahmoud Abbas, hugs senior Hamas leader Sayed Seyam (L) before giving a speech in Gaza in this March 12, 2008 ...
