‘ Legalising’ rogue settlement in response to murder: Netanyahu

Jerusalem, Feb. 4: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ministers would grant formal authorisation on Sunday to a rogue West Bank settlement in response to last month’s murder of a rabbi who lived there.

The move comes with European nations voicing increasing concern over settlement growth in the occupied Palestinian territory, but with US President Donald Trump largely refraining from such criticism — what many Israelis view as a green light.

Israeli authorities have advanced plans for thousands of new settlement homes in recent months. Cabinet votes to authorise a pre- existing outpost such as Sunday’s are relatively rare.

“The government will today regularise the status of Havat Gilad to allow the continuance of normal life there,” Mr Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, referring to the wildcat settlement.

The official cabinet agenda says ministers will hear a motion to designate the 15- year- old outpost as a “new community” which will have the necessary building permits and a state budget.

It says that about 40 families live in the outpost, but envisages its enlargement.

Rabbi Raziel Shevach was shot dead near Havat Gilad, where he lived, on January 9.

The following week, Israeli troops searching for his attackers shot dead a Palestinian.