Israel today said it was committed to acting "expeditiously" to dismantle unauthorised West Bank settlement outposts and would tell that to President George Bush when he arrives for talks on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, did not set a deadline for the removal of the outposts, which are typically makeshift encampments often set up by hardline settlers.
Israel first pledged to remove West Bank outposts in 2003, under the US-backed "road map" for peace, which stalled amid recriminations from Israel and the Palestinians that its terms were not being honoured.
Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said conditions had changed since the Annapolis conference in November tried to resurrect the peace accord.
"What is new in the post-Annapolis process is that there isn't an expectation that Israel alone will implement its obligations under the road map in a vacuum," Regev said.
"Rather, the expectation is that both sides will, in parallel, move forward in implementing their obligations. Obviously, that framework makes the process more doable."
He added that Olmert was "committed to acting expeditiously on this matter".
The Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said he hoped Olmert would deliver on his promise. "I hope that he will dismantle the outposts ... so that we can make 2008 a year of peace and treaty," Erekat said. "We'll judge it once we see it."
The Israeli government maintains there are about two dozen such outposts, although Peace Now, an anti-settlement group, puts the number at around 50.
Under the terms of the road map, which both sides agreed will form the basis of the new peace talks, Israel must remove outposts built since March 2001 and freeze new settlement construction.
The Palestinians, who have to rein in militants in return, have already claimed Israeli plans to expand a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, known as Har Homa, violates the agreement. Israel insists the territory is exempt from the agreement.
Around 100 peace activists demonstrated today at one of the biggest unauthorised settlements, Migron, which is a 20-minute car ride from Jerusalem.
"Evacuate these people," demonstrator Mossi Raz demanded over a loudspeaker. "They are here ... only to block a final agreement with the Palestinians." Migron consists of about 40 families and a synagogue, ritual bath and nursery school. Settlers acknowledge that at least part of the outpost is located on privately owned land seized from Palestinians.
But Migron community leader Avi Teksler told the Associated Press settlers would continue "to expand this settlement and others."
"The Jewish people's connection to its homeland is greater than any political whim," he said.
Less than a month after he took office in January 2006, Olmert ordered the demolition of nine houses in the unauthorised outpost of Amona. Violent clashes between settlers and security forces broke out during the operation, and Israel has taken no serious action since against the encampments.
Bush, who arrives in Israel on Wednesday on his first trip to the country as president, has said he expected Israel to take down outposts.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said today he would ask Bush to curb Israel's West Bank settlements for the sake of peace. "We wish for him first to ask the Israelis to stop the settlement building and ... guarantee once more the ending of the occupation that happened in 1967," Abbas said after attending Orthodox Christmas services in Bethlehem.
Olmert has insisted any clearing of West Bank outposts must be preceded by greater progress against militants by the Palestinians. Both leaders are due to meet tomorrow.
Violence continued in Gaza today with the Israeli military shooting dead two armed Palestinians who approached the border with Israel. Islamic Jihad announced that a female militant blew herself up along the border fence in the area.
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