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NEW YORK - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today that Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank could expect dramatic changes for the better under a new emergency administration, according to an aide.
Olmert was meeting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the beginning of a three-day visit to the United States. He will meet US President George W. Bush on Tuesday.
"We can expect a dramatic change in access and movement of Palestinians in the West Bank," an aide to the prime minister quoted him as telling Ban during their meeting in New York.
"Israel will be a serious partner if there will be a serious partner in the West Bank. Israel will give tax money to a serious and responsible government."
Israel has withheld some $700 million in tax revenues it has collected over the past year for the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinians also have complained of Israeli military restrictions on their movements as a major hindrance in daily life.
Israel and Western countries have said they will maintain an economic and diplomatic embargo of the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip after its violent takeover of the coastal territory in the past few days.
The aide added Olmert told the UN chief that Israel would not get involved in the situation in Gaza but would deliver humanitarian assistance, if this should be required.
"We will take into consideration all humanitarian needs in Gaza," the aide quoted Olmert as saying. "We will not intervene, we will not move forces, but we will not stand by and say that the lives of innocent civilians are not our concern."
Earlier, en route to the United States, Olmert said he saw "an opportunity that has not existed for a long time" now that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had dissolved his unity government with Hamas following the Islamists' rout of Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip.
"A government that is not a Hamas government is a partner," he told reporters on his plane, referring to the cabinet of political independents Abbas has formed.
Ban, speaking to reporters at Israeli Ambassador Danny Gillerman's home, said, "I call on all parties to exercise restraint."
He said the United Nations has "broad humanitarian concerns" in Gaza that "we need to overcome with wisdom."
An Olmert aide said the prime minister would explore with US President George W Bush on Tuesday in Washington how to "empower the moderates" among the Palestinians.
Another senior Israeli official spoke of swift "gestures," including the release to Abbas of a portion of the US$700 million ($944.79 million) in Palestinian tax revenues Israel has been withholding.
But an economic and diplomatic embargo of the Hamas administration in Gaza would remain in place and be tightened in some areas, the official said. Other officials stressed Israel would not block humanitarian aid to the territory.
Pouring money into the occupied West Bank, where Fatah holds sway, would remove an obstacle delaying another round of talks between Abbas and Olmert on aspects of Palestinian statehood -- a prospect dimmed by Hamas' victory. They last met in April.
Abbas seeks peace with Israel. Hamas has rejected Western demands to recognise the Jewish state and renounce violence.
Before Olmert's meeting with Ban, one aide said they would hold a preliminary discussion on prospects for sending international forces to Gaza to cut off arms smuggling to Hamas and other militants via tunnels under Egypt's border.
But another aide to the prime minister said chances were slim such a force could be deployed any time soon since both Egypt and Hamas opposed the idea.
- REUTERS
