The Israeli authorities are gearing up for a programme to demolish all unauthorised settlement West Bank outposts by mapping their existence in the occupied territory, public radio reported.
The survey pinpointing each of the outposts should be completed within four months, the director of the Civil Administration, General Kami Abu-Rukun, was quoted as saying.
The data would then be submitted to the government so that a work plan for the destruction of the buildings could be prepared, he said.
Watchdogs believe scores of outposts are still dotted across the West Bank, some three years after Israel endorsed a peace plan known as the roadmap which specifically obliges the government to tear down all the wildcat settlements.
The previous government frequently pledged to dismantle the outposts but rarely translated its words into deeds. However new Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is planning to evacuate tens of thousands of settlers from the West Bank, has said he will not allow settlers to create ‘facts on the ground’.
The outposts are generally set up as makeshift settlements with caravans but are often later ‘legalised’ by the authorities.
The international community considers all Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal and Washington has frequently expressed impatience over Israel's inaction.