Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given his backing to Defence Minister Ehud Barak's plans to evacuate, by force if necessary, unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank.

Netanyahu and Barak discussed the issue over the weekend, Israeli media reported Sunday.

Some 100 outposts, set up independently by Jewish settlers without formal government approval, are scattered throughout the West Bank.

Often consisting of little more than a few makeshift shelters, they exist next to the 121 "formal" Israeli settlements in the occupied territory. All are considered illegal under international law. Israel considers the formal settlements legal, but not the outposts.

The 2003 "road map" authored by the quartet of Middle East peace sponsors - the United States, Europe, United Nations and Russia - calls on Israel to uproot all outposts erected since March 2001 and to freeze all construction in the other settlements.