Tel Aviv - The number of buildings in Israeli settlements in the West Bank grew in 2008 compared to 2007, with 1,257 constructed, a report by an Israeli settlement watchdog has found.

In a study released Wednesday, the Peace Now movement also found that 261 new structures were built by settlers in West Bank outposts.

Some 39 per cent of the new structures built in 2008, or 591, were built east of the barrier Israel has constructed along the West Bank, the report found.

Israel says the barrier is intended to serve as a deterrent to suicide bombers and other militants, but Palestinians and its other opponents say its route - snaking deep into the West Bank - is an excuse for an Israeli "land grab."

Moreover, said the report, not one of the 99 unauthorized settler outpost in the West Bank was evacuated, despite promises by the Israeli government that it would clear them as part of its commitment under the 2003 road map peace plan.

Construction or development work took place in three out of every four outposts in 2008, the report found.

Palestinians and the world community demand that Israel uproot all settlements, whose presence they say is an obstacle to the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state living alongside Israel.

But Israel wants to keep large settlement blocks - those built near the pre-1967 border - as part of a final peace deal. (dpa)