U.N. Notes Increase in Israel Roadblocks

Palestinians carry the body of Abdullah Mansour, 31, a militant in the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, during his funeral at Al Ein refugee camp in the West Bank City of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006. Mansour's relatives said he was killed inside his home by a single bullet to the head as he looked outside his window at gun battles taking place outside between militants and Israeli troops. The army said that in an overnight arrest raid Israeli troops were fired upon and identified a man laying an explosive. They opened fire at him and killed him, the army said.(AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh) (Nasser Ishtayeh - AP)

JERUSALEM -- Israel's network of military checkpoints and road barriers in the West Bank has grown by 40 percent in the past year, part of an increasingly sophisticated system of controls that disrupts all aspects of Palestinian life, a U.N. agency said Wednesday.

These physical obstacles are carving up the West Bank into separate parts, with travel between them becoming more and more difficult, said David Shearer, head of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem.

U.N. officials in Geneva, meanwhile, expressed concern about the ongoing closure of the Gaza Strip, including the crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

"It cannot continue like it is now without a social explosion that will hurt everybody, including Israeli security," said Jan Egeland, the U.N. humanitarian chief.

The tightened travel restrictions come at a time of continued deadlock _ both in efforts to restart an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and a bid by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to form a more a pragmatic government that is acceptable to the international community.

The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority has reiterated in recent days that it will not recognize Israel or renounce violence _ key conditions for the lifting of an international aid boycott.

In Brussels, Belgium, the EU said Wednesday it had given $816 million in aid to the Palestinians this year, bypassing the Hamas government.

EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin said a two-day meeting of European experts agreed to expand the aid to cover 60,000 additional people in the Palestinian territories, from the 100,000 currently receiving help through the international fund overseen by the World Bank.

Jacob Walles, the U.S. consul general in Jerusalem, said the United States is prepared to work with any Palestinian government that meets the international demands.

With Hamas refusing to compromise, it should make room for others, Walles said. "They should let another government come in, in some way, and accept the conditions," Walles told Palestinian reporters.

In the current climate, a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also appeared increasingly unlikely, despite pledges by both a month ago that they are ready to meet without preconditions.

Abbas confidant Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian leader wants concrete achievements in such a meeting, including the release of some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners Israel holds.