Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says that Tel Aviv is committed to evacuating the 23 illegal outposts in the West Bank within weeks or months.

In a Monday meeting with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell in London, Barak commented on the illegal outposts saying that "I think there is progress. There's still a way to go."

He added that he expects no imminent announcement on settlement building saying, "I think it will take still a few weeks before it will become clear."

Barak's remarks came amid repeated calls on Tel Aviv's regime to put an end to illegal construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

This is while the German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the ongoing construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank imperils efforts of a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

The Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa had earlier called for an immediate halt to the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Moussa had stated that it would be impossible to create an independent Palestinian state if Israel continued its settlement constructions. He also underscored that West Bank's population will change rapidly as a direct result of Israel's persistence to erect more Jewish settlements.

Washington meanwhile regards Israeli settlements as a hurdle in the way of comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Under the 2002 Roadmap for Peace plan brokered by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and also freeze all settlement activity.'

More than 285,000 Israelis currently live in the settlements, which apart from being in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 446, 452 and 465 are considered illegal by the international community.

MP/SME/MMN