US poised to lift embargo on Palestine

The US Government is poised to lift its economic and diplomatic embargo against a new Palestinian government in the West Bank since it no longer includes the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to announce the new US policy early this week, a senior US official said.

That announcement will coincide with a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is holding talks in Washington.

The White House declined to comment, but Jacob Walles, the US consul-general in Jerusalem, said the international aid embargo imposed after Hamas won parliamentary elections last year would no longer apply to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' government, and that he expected it to be lifted this week.

The senior US official said that any US gestures toward Mr Abbas would be made independently of Israel.

The move essentially would reset US policy to the days before Hamas swept legislative elections in early 2006 and upended US and international peacemaking.

The United States, Israel and the European Union regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation.