Settlements decision ‘very worrying’
ISRAEL: The Israeli parliament has voted to approve thousands of homes built illegally in the West Bank over the past 20 years, a measure heralded by those on the Right as a big step towards burying the two-state solution.
The bill, which drew sharp criticism from the international community, passed in the Knesset by 60 votes to 49. John Kerry, the United States secretary of state, had told Israel a few days earlier that it had to choose between the settlements and a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Isaac Herzog, the opposition leader, called the vote ‘‘national suicide’’ and ‘‘a black day for the Knesset’’. Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations envoy in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said it was a ‘‘very worrying initiative’’.
The bill legalises almost 4000 homes scattered across more than 50 settlements, according to Peace Now, an activist group.
All of Israel’s settlements are illegal under international law, but the bill focuses on dozens of outposts that are illegitimate even under Israeli law because they were built without authorisation. Many were built illegally on privately owned land, and Palestinians who can prove ownership will be eligible for compensation.
Many of the settlements are in remote areas, far from the blocs that Israel would probably keep in a final peace deal with the Palestinians.
The vote was part of a monthslong legal and political battle over Amona, a cluster of 40 caravans on a hilltop near Ramallah, although its fate is not covered by the bill. The supreme court ruled in 2014 that Amona was founded on privately owned Palestinian land, and ordered its demolition.
The government has until Christmas Day to comply with the ruling.
Naftali Bennett, head of the prosettler Jewish Home party, threatened to leave the governing coalition and force early elections if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went ahead with the evacuation. Netanyahu sought a further delay but the High Court refused.
The 300 settlers who live there will be relocated to a nearby hilltop at government expense. Some have vowed to fight the Israeli soldiers and police officers who will evict them this month.
The bill does not save Amona but it nonetheless won praise from Bennett, who described its preliminary passage as a ‘‘historic day’’ for Israel.
Benny Begin, from the ruling Likud party, was the lone coalition member to vote against it. He called it a ‘‘land grab’’.
An Israeli non-profit group began legal action this week disputing the new choice of location for the Amona settlement, arguing that it too is owned by Palestinians. - The Times