Olive trees stand on the hill overlooking the Israeli settlement Har Homa south of Jerusalem, June 1, 2009. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that he would ignore the U.S. demand for a complete freeze in West Bank settlement expansion. (UPI Photo/Debbie Hill) | License Photo

JERUSALEM, June 1 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says there will be no new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and illegal outposts there will be dismantled.

Speaking Monday before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for the first time since becoming prime minister two months ago, Netanyahu said while he doesn't intend to "freeze life in Judea and Samaria," he won't allow any new settlements, the Israeli Web site Ynetnews.com reported.


"We won't build new settlements," Netanyahu told lawmakers. "The plan is to dismantle unauthorized outposts. There are reasonable demands and unreasonable demands," he said, referring to a request by U.S. President Barack Obama during a meeting last month in Washington to halt new settlement building. "The settlements' fate will be determined in the permanent (Palestinian-Israeli) agreement."

Netanyahu's comments came as Israeli security forces Monday evacuated the northern West Bank outpost of Nachalat Yosef. Defense Minister Ehud Barak told reporters last week that Israel was not bowing to U.S. pressure in dismantling such outposts, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.