US hails Israeli checkpoint steps

The Israeli army will still go into the towns when it thinks it necessary

The US has welcomed Israeli steps to ease movement in the occupied West Bank, as Palestinian forces have been given greater autonomy there.

Israel's military says it has removed six checkpoints controlling Palestinian movement in the past month.

On Thursday, Israel also ended night-time restrictions on Palestinian forces in four West Bank cities.

The moves seem aimed at boosting the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, correspondents say.

The developments come as Israel has been under pressure from the US to end settlement activity in the West Bank, as part of attempts to kick start stalled peace negotiations.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said the checkpoints, near the major Palestinian cities of Ramallah, Qalqilya, Nablus and Jericho, were no longer permanently staffed.

But it says checkpoint infrastructure remains and random checks have been taking place at some of them.

OCHA adds that some 600 obstacles around the West Bank still impede Palestinians' movement.

Correspondents say that Palestinians will greet the move with caution, as checkpoints removed in the past have sometimes been reinstated, or new ones added.

The security forces of the Palestinian Authority have been taking growing responsibility for preventing militant activity in the West Bank, as part of commitments under existing peace agreements.

While they maintain day-to-day security in several Palestinian towns, Israel still at times carries out raids.

Until Thursday, Israel limited night time activities of Palestinian forces in the cities of Qalqilya, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho.

It said they would now be able to "operate freely", although Israeli forces would still enter the cities "in cases of urgent need".

They would also continue to maintain control of roads outside them.

A senior Palestinian official dismissed the move as a sham, and called for an end to all Israeli incursions, the Reuters news agency reported.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, settling more than 450,000 Jews in the area.

OCHA says the network of checkpoints and other obstacles is "only one of several layers of a complex system of access restrictions" on Palestinians.

Some Israeli measures taken in the past year have resulted in Palestinian land loss and have served to further entrench the system of restrictions, the UN agency says.