Settlers create new outposts using temporary structures

A Peace Now spokesman said a crane was used to take containers from an outpost near the Palestinian town of Ramallah.

Under the roadmap peace plan Israel is meant to dismantle about 50 "wildcat" settlements set up since March 2001.

The activists later took one of the containers to Tel Aviv where they left it outside the Defence Ministry.

"We wanted to demonstrate to the Israeli public it is possible to dismantle outposts," Peace Now activist Dror Etkes said.

JEWISH SETTLEMENTS 400,000 settlers in West Bank and Gaza (including east Jerusalem) 80% of West Bank settlers live close to Israel's pre-1967 boundary Most settlements have fewer than 1,000 citizens Roadmap: full text

"We decided that removing the outposts starts now," said activist Uriah Shlomot.

"We decided not to wait for [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon or [Defence Minister] Shaul Mofaz."

"Each moment that a trailer or a caravan exists in an illegal outpost, it is a crime against the future of the country."

Most of the outposts so far removed by Israel's security forces have been uninhabited, and have almost all been systematically rebuilt within days.

Angry clashes have occurred at other outposts after hundreds of protests were bussed in to prevent their demolition.

Containers (lower left) are often used to start new settlement areas

Settler representative Pinhas Wallerstein called the activists "petty thieves" and added he would be laying charges against them on Wednesday, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The structures were removed from near the outpost of Migron. Peace Now says they were intended by settlers to create territorial contiguity between the outpost and a nearby industrial area.

In June, US ambassador Dan Kurtzer said Israel had yet to honour its 2003 commitment to halt Jewish settlement expansion and begin dismantling the illegal outposts .

Last month Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approved the construction of about 1,300 new homes in the West Bank.

The US did not appear to oppose their planned construction despite all settlement activity being prohibited under the US-backed roadmap peace plan.