Members of the quartet of Middle East peace mediators urged Israel today to ease restrictions on Palestinians before January elections to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat.
The group - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - agreed to help the Palestinian Authority pay for the elections, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.
Russian Foreign Minister Mr Sergei Lavrov
Mr Annan was speaking after a high-level meeting of the quartet in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where they are attending an international conference on Iraq.
"If people are going to campaign and move around to vote some of the restrictions will have to be lifted and we are hopeful that that will be done," Mr Annan said.
Israeli troops maintain tight control on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, using checkpoints to restrict travel between cities and from rural areas to cities.
Responding to a question on whether Israel should remove the roadblocks and pull troops back from around Palestinian towns, Russian Foreign Minister Mr Sergei Lavrov said: "We certainly believe that whatever gestures aimed at confidence building Israel could make would be helpful at this stage."
"Israel could assist with getting in touch with the Palestinians and ensuring that all those Palestinians who want to vote can do so," he added.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who also attended the meeting, on Monday won an Israeli pledge to allow Palestinians greater freedom of movement to hold the elections.
The quartet members see the elections as a crucial step towards reviving their Middle East peace plan known as the "road map".