Settler leaders said Thursday that they wanted their meeting with Defense Minister Amir Peretz, scheduled for later in the day, to focus on the government attitude toward their communities.

The agenda of the meeting was to cover the evacuation of illegal outposts in the West Bank. But settlers told the defense minister in a letter prior to the meeting that they preferred to discuss the government's treatment of settlements.

In particular, they said, they wanted to ask Peretz to stop the emerging phenomenon of "drying up the settlements."

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A senior Defense Ministry official said in reaction to the settlers' statement that the ministry always acted in accordance with the law when dealing with settlements.

The official said that the scheduled meeting was intended to coordinate settlement evacuations with the residents in order to avoid confrontation.

"The purpose of deliberating with the settlers is to avoid a violent conflict during evacuation of the outposts," he said.

The official added that "if the settlers impose preconditions on the meeting, unilateral steps will be taken and force will be used to enforce the law during evacuation of the outposts."

In the letter to Peretz, Yesha Council Secretary General Bentzi Lieberman wrote that the attitude of the ministry toward the settlers has hit an "unprecedented low."

"During all the years of settlement in the West Bank and Gaza, there has never been such disregard for the basic needs of human life," Lieberman wrote.

Lieberman added that, "the embargo imposed on the settlements by the Defense Ministry is harming the basic civil rights of the settlers and does not allow for reasonable existence."

Lieberman added that before deliberating on the issue of dismantling outposts, settlers wanted the opportunity to address the decision to halt construction in the Jordan Valley settlement of Maskiot. The settlement had originally been approved by Defense Minister Peretz and then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

According to Lieberman, the Defense Ministry has made a practice of denying settlements a series of basic living necessities.

Liberman said the government has neglected to provide some settlements with telephone and electric grid connections and has prevented the construction of education buildings inside legal settlements. He also said the ministry has also rejected settlers' requests to construct security structures and has denied construction permits within existing settlements.