JERUSALEM, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on the Israeli security establishments to ease restrictions on Palestinians during a tour to the West Bank on Tuesday, local media reported.

    "Restrictions should be eased as much as possible on passing Palestinian pedestrians and transported merchandise," Olmert was quoted by local daily Yedioth Ahronoth as saying while addressing the security forces guarding West Bank checkpoints.

    Following his meeting with Palestinian National Authority (PNA)Chairman Mahmoud Abbas last December, Olmert has agreed to dismantle a number of checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank and take measures to make the daily life of Palestinians easier.

    The measures were seen by the Israeli government as a series of good-will gestures to the Palestinians, and also aim to bolster the moderate Abbas, who is involved in power struggle with the ruling Hamas movement which refused to recognize Israel.

    According to statistics released by UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem, Israel's army checkpoints and physical barriers in the West Bank have increased by nearly 40 percent, from 376 in Aug. 2005 to 528 in Sept. 2006.

    The UN office said that Israel's increasingly sophisticated system of controls has disrupted all aspects of Palestinian people's daily life.