The figures also show Maale Adumin, east of Jerusalem, is now the biggest settlement with 28,000 inhabitants.

The next biggest are the ultra-Orthodox settlements of Modiin Illit, to the west of Ramallah where 23,000 live, and Beitar Illit, south of Bethlehem, which is home to 21,500 settlers.

The number of settlers who now live in the centre of the West Bank town of Hebron, under the protection of some 100 Israeli soldiers, is put at 532.

The ministry also said that the total number of settlers in the Gaza Strip was 7,700. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The settlers Council of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and the Gaza Strip, the main settlers' organization, said it was pleased with the figures.

"This proves that settlement is stronger than (Palestinian) terrorism and the (Israeli) left," said the council which said it expected to see a rapid growth in settlement population in the second half of the year.

The international community considers all settlements built in occupied territory to be illegal.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Monday, July 21, that Jewish settlement outposts are an "internal" matter which the Jewish state will deal with at its discretion, rather than under international pressure.

"At the last count, the Israeli army had dismantled eight settler outposts, including one which was inhabited," a spokesman for the organization Yaariv Oppenheimer said.

But "the settlers have established ten other outposts, including two which are inhabited," the spokesman added.

The "roadmap" demands Israel remove the more than 60 outposts set up since Sharon came to power in March 2001 as part of measures leading to the creation of an independent Palestinian state by 2005.

Furthermore, some 300 Jewish settlers Wednesday arrived in Israel from North America as part of the government’s plan to receive one million Jews in the next decade.

With economic recession and an 11 percent rate of unemployment, immigration to Israel has slumped in recent years, after a boom in 1990s when one million people hailing form the former Soviet Union republics arrived in the Jewish state.

Sharon has been the architect of Israel's settlement policy for decades and his 1998 call to "seize the hills" has remained a rallying cry for radical settlers.

He also slammed international pressures by saying the settlement issue is an “internal affair”.

His comments, made before the Parliament on Monday, July 22, came few weeks after Palestinian factions declared a temporary ceasefire in hope for reciprocal steps by Israel and for the “roadmap” to be set into motion.

But existing settlers feel that their suffering under continued Palestinian attacks and lack of security despite heavy presence of Israeli soldiers would be ended by allowing Palestinians to restore their occupied land.

According to a poll conducted by Peace Now Movement, two-thirds of Jewish settlers are in favor of the dismantling of the so-called illegal outposts in the West Bank.

The survey also found that 90 percent of settlers would obey a government order to withdraw from the occupied territories, 83 percent would agree to leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip in exchange for compensation while 29 percent would like to leave their homes now.