TEL AVIV, July 1: Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said on Monday his troops had dismantled sites illegally built by Jewish settlers in the West Bank while pressing on with their crackdown on Palestinian guerillas, killing a top bomb-maker of the Hamas.

Palestinian officials criticized US pressure to drop Yasser Arafat in return for Washington’s backing in their bid for an independent state, as Israeli forces remained in seven of the eight key West Bank towns and cities as part of their prolonged operation against hardliners.

Ben Eliezer, a Labour hawk who faces his first party congress as the leftist formation’s leader, said: “Out of 34 illegal settlement points, we drew up a list of 21 to be evacuated, and 11 were cleared yesterday (Sunday).”

The minister told public radio he hoped 10 others would be broken up “within two or three weeks”.

Army radio said that only two of the settlements dismantled on Sunday were occupied, adding that they were cleared voluntarily with the accord of the principal settlers’ organization.

One of those moved out, Shlomo Shapiro, said there had been no incidents, but he added, “We will come back and set up many other settlements.”

The anti-settlement group Peace Now said on Sunday that since the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took power 16 months ago, 44 new settlement sites had been built, and accused the defence ministry of making “spurious” claims about scrapping settlements.—AFP