Blair sees Palestinians moving to implement "road map"

By Mohammed Assadi

The former prime minister urged Israel to respond by easing travel and trade restrictions for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Statehood could hinge on those assessments because Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed not to implement any future peace agreements until Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets his road map obligation to crack down on militants.

Earlier to the south in Ramallah, he said: "The Palestinian side have improved significantly their security capability."

Israeli officials said the Palestinians had a long way to go to meet their security obligations, citing a suicide bombing this week in southern Israel.

It is unclear what direct influence Blair, who serves as special envoy to the Quartet of Middle East mediators, will have on the road map judging process, though he is close to Bush.

Citing what he called progress by the Palestinians, Blair said Israel "in time" should remove checkpoints and other restrictions on Palestinian travel and trade.

Hamas's armed wing claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide bombing, which killed an Israeli woman. The group said the bomber and a second attacker, killed at the scene by police, came from the southern West Bank city of Hebron.