WASHINGTON, July 6 (Xinhuanet) -- US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday expressed disappointment over the rate of Israel's dismantlement of settlement outposts in the Palestinian territories during talks with visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

    "With respect to the outposts and other activity related to settlements and access, the minister and I had an open and candid discussion about it," Powell told reporters after his talks with Shalom at the State Department.

    "I explained to the minister that we have some disappointment in the rate of which outposts have been removed and the minister gave me assurances they are hard at work on that. And we will be exchanging more information on the subject," Powell said.

    Shalom said Israel was "committed to remove the unauthorized outposts."

    "While the Palestinians are not doing anything, we would like to implement our commitment. We removed tens of outposts already. There are 28 left," Shalom said.

    "We gave all the lists to the American administration, and we are working together in order to implement our commitment in the near future," Shalom said.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has agreed to dismantle alloutposts erected in the Palestinian territories since he came to power in 2001 when he endorsed the roadmap peace plan for the Middle East last year. Enditem