JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli prime minister-elect Ehud Barak vowed on Monday to stop Jewish settlers from grabbing hilltops in the West Bank and to re-evaluate decisions on settlement policy taken by his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu. Elected on a pledge to accelerate peace moves with the Palestinians, Barak told Israel Radio: "I don‘t think anyone thinks a government headed by me will continue the settlement drive on hills around (the Palestinian-ruled city of) Nablus." Palestinian officials welcomed Barak‘s statement. "This is a step in the direction of regaining the trust that was lost with the previous Israeli government due to its hardline policies," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat‘s aide. "We are waiting for Barak to form his government and to take steps that would lead to resumption of the peace process, such as halting all settlement activity," Abu Rdainah told Reuters. Palestinians consider settlements illegal and a violation of interim peace deals. More than 20 settler outposts have sprouted on hilltops in the West Bank since last October according to the Israeli group Peace Now. About 170,000 Jews live in settlements scattered among nearly three million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, both of which were captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel‘s new parliament was due to meet on Monday for the first time since Barak, the Labour Party leader, defeated the right-wing Netanyahu whose settlement expansion prompted Palestinian warnings of violence. Barak said he would review decisions taken by Netanyahu‘s government on settlements even if it weakened efforts to woo pro-settlement parties into his yet-to-be-formed coalition. He did not specify which decisions would be re-evaluated. While promising "supreme efforts to bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict", Barak scaled back hopes of forming a broad coalition, saying he did not fear a 66-seat total in the 120-seat Knesset. He had hoped to command a wider majority to make peace moves with Palestinians easier to push through parliament. Barak said settlements, plans to draft Jewish seminary students into the army and a rift between the left-wing Meretz party and ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas were problems yet to be resolved in coalition talks. "I will set up the widest government possible. I am not afraid of a government of 66," Barak said. By law, he has until July 8 to form a government. Netanyahu, because of parliamentary bylaws, will be sworn in as a member of Knesset on Monday even though he has declared he will resign following his electoral defeat last month. As the oldest member, former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, 75, will act as temporary Knesset speaker until a new one is chosen and will swear in all members including Netanyahu, who defeated him in a close election in 1996.