On a sunbaked hilltop in the West Bank, a bored Israeli soldier waves yellow taxis and lorries slowly through a roadblock, glancing at the drivers’ identity cards but not bothering to search the vehicles.

There is no pressing need for searches, since the Wadi Nar roadblock to the southeast of Jerusalem – a concrete watchtower, a metal guard hut and a few concrete barriers, known locally as the “container check-point” – does not lead into Israel or any Jewish settlement, but divides one Palestinian area from another.

It is checkpoints such as these, strewn across the West Bank and doing little more than adding to the daily grind of life in the occupied territory, that may be the first target for Tony Blair when he takes up office as Middle East peace envoy for the international community.

Peace Now, an Israeli organisation opposed to Jewish settlements in the West Bank, says there are 560 Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, only 93 of which are permanently guarded by soldiers. Of those, 58 lead from one Palestinian area to another.

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Washington is pressing the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, to scrap these road blocks as a first show of support for Mahmoud Abbas, the Western-backed Palestinian President whose secular Fatah forces were driven out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas Islamist guerrillas two weeks ago.

“If the Prime Minister wants to show he is serious about political negotiations, one easy thing to do is to ease traffic movement in the West Bank,” said Hagit Ofran, of Peace Now, yesterday as she led a tour of internal checkpoints.

Ms Ofran said each roadblock can add between 30 minutes and an hour to any journey made by Palestinians, and the checkpoints are often only open to those with permits.

“This affects thousands of Palestinians in their everyday lives,” she said. They add little to Israel’s overall security because screening is much more thorough at roadblocks that actually lead into Israel or settlement areas.

“I don’t know how many terrorists decided to take up arms against Israel when they were standing in the sun for hours at checkpoints,” Ms Ofran said.

Mr Blair will be looking for ways to improve living conditions for Palestinians, as well as bolstering their internal trade and infrastructure. While the fighting between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza has left that territory cut off under the Islamists’ rule, many hope that progress can be made in the West Bank now that Hamas is out of the Government.

Mr Olmert promised President Bush during a recent Washington trip to introduce “far-reaching” measures to remove checkpoints in the West Bank, although some of his ministers say it is down to the Palestinians first to crack down on militants.

In a step towards that goal, Mr Abbas yesterday outlawed all armed groups except the official Palestinian security forces. Israeli sources said he had also asked Israel for permission to bring around 1,500 well-trained Fatah fighters, known as the Badr Brigades, from their bases in Jordan to help to secure the West Bank against Hamas.

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