Quartet insists Israel must ease restrictions for elections

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 told reporters.

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," Annan said.

Israeli troops maintain tight control on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, using a network of 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 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.

Lavrov arrived in Israel Tuesday ahead of talks with both Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Palestinian caretaker leadership, sources in Sharon's office said.

After his talks with Sharon and his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom, Lavrov is expected to travel to the West Bank

town of Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei and Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who also attended the Quartet meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, 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 toward reviving their Middle East peace plan known as the "road map."

Peace hopes rose after Arafat, who was shunned by Israel and the United States, died in Paris on Nov. 11.

Powell pledged the group's support for the elections and beyond that for Israel's planned withdrawal from some Palestinian areas.

"We focused on practical measures we can take to support Palestinian elections to help with reconstruction in the territories and to ensure that Israel's disengagement from Gaza and initially four settlements in the West Bank contribute to real progress on the road map," he said.

The three officials said they would seek to provide the Palestinians with financial support from the Quartet and wider international community. None of them mentioned any amounts of money.

"Also there are discussions with the Israeli government about releasing some of the funds due to the Palestinians," Annan said.

Amid the frenzy of Western diplomacy aimed at jumpstarting the stalled peace process, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was scheduled to hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Wednesday and an Israeli government source said there was a possibility that British Prime Minister Tony Blair may also pay a visit here to the region month.

Straw will meet Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and leader of the main opposition Labor party, Shimon Peres, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced.

On Thursday, Straw will meet Palestinian Abbas, Qorei and interim president Rawhi Fattuh.

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