Israel parliament legalises settler outposts on Palestinian land

The law – approved by 60 members of parliament to 52 against – was slammed by Palestinians as a means to 'legalise theft' of land.

Deputy minister in the ministry of defence, Eli Ben-Dahan, and other hardline Israeli Knesset members, attend a vote on a bill to seize private Palestinian land. Ammar Awad / Reuters

JERUSALEM // The Israeli parliament on Monday finalised a controversial law legalising dozens of Jewish outposts built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

The law – approved by 60 members of parliament to 52 against – was criticised by Palestinians as a means to “legalise theft” of land.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who did not take part in the law’s final votes as he was returning from a trip to Britain, said he had “updated” the US administration so as not to surprise “our friends”.

Speaking after the law was finalised, Bezalel Smotrich of the far-right Jewish Home party, who was one of the forces behind the legislation, thanked the American people for electing Donald Trump as president, “without whom the law would have probably not passed”.

The new law will allow Israel to legally seize Palestinian private land on which Israelis built outposts without knowing it was private property or because the state allowed them to do so.

Palestinian owners will be compensated financially or with other land.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation said the law was a means to “legalise theft” and demonstrated “the Israeli government’s will to destroy any chances for a political solution”.

A PLO statement stressed that the “Israeli settlement enterprise negates peace and the possibility of the two-state solution”.

Ahead of the vote, opposition chief and Labour leader Isaac Herzog lashed out against the “despicable law” that he said would undermine the country’s Jewish majority.

“The vote tonight isn’t for or against the settlers, rather Israel’s interests,” Mr Herzog said.

The law would “annex millions of Palestinians into Israel”, he warned, and expose Israeli soldiers and politicians to lawsuits at international criminal courts.

Science and technology minister Ofir Akunis of Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party said the argument was over the right to the Land of Israel.

“All of the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people,” he told Mr Herzog, using the biblical term that included the West Bank. “This right is eternal and indisputable.”

The law is regarded by critics as promoting at least partial annexation of the West Bank, a key demand for parts of Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing cabinet, including Jewish Home.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said the law proved Israel “has no intention of ending its control over the Palestinians or its theft of their land”.

The bill could still be challenged, with defence minister Avigdor Lieberman saying last week: “The chance that it will be struck down by the supreme court is 100 per cent.”

The law applies to 53 outposts and homes within settlements recognised by Israel built on Palestinian land, according to the anti-settlement organisation Peace Now.

More than 3,800 homes would be “legalised”, the NGO said.

UN envoy for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, said he was “concerned” by the law, which could “greatly diminish the prospects for Arab-Israeli peace”.

Since Mr Trump’s inauguration, Israel has announced more than 6,000 more homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, seen as key parts of any future Palestinian state.

For the first time last week, Mr Trump’s administration said settlement expansion “may not be helpful” for peace prospects, but also broke with previous administrations by saying settlements were not an obstacle to peace.

*Agence France-Presse