We'll dismantle wildcat West Bank settlements - but only if 'legal' ones can stay, claim Israelis



Israel would dismantle nearly two dozen wildcat outposts in the West Bank if the U.S. drops its objections to existing, government-backed settlements, officials said.



Defence Minister Ehud Barak will bring the new proposal to senior American officials during his visit to Washington next week, according to Israeli sources.

If approved, demolition would begin in the next few weeks.



Palestinian labourers work on a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim: The Israeli government is determined some developments should stay

The move follows President Barack Obama's demands that all settlements be stopped during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But Netanyahu has defied that demand since returning from the States last week, saying his government will continue to build homes in existing settlements.



Under the terms of the U.S.-backed 'road map' plan for Mideast peace, Israel is to both take down the outposts and halt building in existing settlements.

But it has flouted those obligations since the road map was signed in June 2003.



Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to meet Obama at the White House on Thursday and Ahmed Qureia, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the demand for a complete settlement freeze will be the main issue.



'Any attempt to manoeuver on the implementation of the road map regarding settlement activities is unacceptable,' Qureia said.



'What does a peace process mean when settlements are continuing on the Palestinian territories?

'What we want is to immediately dismantle all settlement outposts and to stop what is called the natural growth in the settlements, and to stop all settlement activities.'

Other settlements, however, would be demolished: At Maoz Esther, a hilltop site northeast of Ramallah, residents retrieve what they can from the rubble after demolition by Israeli troops

Abbas has said there is no point to meeting with Netanyahu unless he freezes settlement construction and agrees to open negotiations on Palestinian independence.



Netanyahu has agreed to renew talks, but has resisted U.S. pressure to voice support for Palestinian statehood.

The U.S. considers the settlements - home to nearly 300,000 Israelis - obstacles to peace because they are built on captured territory the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak is expected to make new proposals when he visits Washington

But Netanyahu and Barak both say the 121 existing settlements must be allowed to expand for 'natural growth,' the ill-defined term Israel uses for population growth in the settlements.



U.S. policy and the road map specifically oppose settlement expansion to account for natural growth.



The wildcat outposts are a peripheral part of Israel's West Bank settlement enterprise because only a few thousand people live there, generally in tents or mobile homes.



But these communities, set up to extend Israel's hold on West Bank land, have become a rallying point for settlers and their supporters and a bone of contention for Palestinians. Several have turned into full-fledged settlements.



Settlers have put up an estimated 100 outposts since the early 1990s without government authorisation but with the knowledge of an array of government officials.



Under the road map, some two dozen are to be torn down.

Netanyahu has clashed with members of his hawkish Cabinet in recent days over dismantling that smaller number of outposts, signaling the internal difficulties he would face if he tries to take stiffer action against settlement construction.



He has said he will not tolerate unauthorised construction, but some of his coalition allies don't want the outposts knocked down.



Barak, the official authorized to order outpost demolitions, has taken little action against the outposts since becoming defence minister two years ago.







