He made the announcement during a meeting in his Jerusalem offices with representatives of the Settlers' Council, the main body of West Bank settlers, who tried in vain to persuade him to legalise the outposts, the television said.

The television said Barak had declared that eight of the outposts had been established "legally" and that three others would be given retrospective permission. The remaining 16 will not be dismantled although they were found to be illegal but any expansion will be frozen, the television said.

Barak gave the settlers 24 hours in which to submit any representations about his decision on the outposts to be evacuated.

The Prime Minister's announcement followed recommendations presented to him by deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh, on the basis of datacollected by the army about the rogue encampments. Sneh said Monday the Army had singled out seven unauthorised sites while another 28 only had "half, a quarter or even less than the required authorisation."

He said however that a good number of settlers had obtained permission retrospectively. "The previous government had the habit of closing its eyes to the question of legality, contrary to our policy," Sneh said.

The settlers established the outposts over the past year to enlarge their settlements and create what they describe as "facts on the ground" in advance of negotiations with the Palestinians on the final status of the territories.

They were encouraged in their action by Ariel Sharon, the hardline foreign minister of the previous right wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, who encouraged them last November "to seize the hilltops," saying that "everything we take will remain ours."

Even before their meeting with Barak, leaders of the Settlement Council warned it would organise demonstrationswherever the outposts were taken down.

Barak, who warned last week he would not allow settlers to "dictate" policy, was given the power to act by a special ministerial committee which met Sunday to discuss the fate of the outposts. Barak has always said he would not establish new settlements, but would provide money for the expansion of existing ones to allow their "natural development."