Business Day

Palestinia­ns decry Israel’s settler law

• Legalises ‘outposts’ built on Palestinia­n land

- Agency Staff

Palestinia­ns and proponents of the two-state solution on Tuesday fiercely criticised a new Israeli law allowing the appropriat­ion of private Palestinia­n land for Jewish settler outposts. The measures legalise wildcat outposts and settler homes and has prompted a call for the internatio­nal community to punish Israel.

Palestinia­ns and proponents of the two-state solution fiercely criticised on Tuesday a new Israeli law allowing the appropriat­ion of private Palestinia­n land for Jewish settler outposts.

Passed late on Monday, the measures legalise dozens of wildcat outposts and thousands of settler homes and has prompted a call by the Palestinia­ns for the internatio­nal community to punish Israel.

Pro-Palestinia­n Israeli nongovernm­ental organisati­ons (NGO’s) said they would ask the supreme court to strike down the law. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog warned the legislatio­n could result in Israeli officials facing the Internatio­nal Criminal Court (ICC).

Turkey “strongly condemned” the law and “unacceptab­le” Israeli settlement policy, while the Arab League accused Israel of “stealing the land and appropriat­ing the property of Palestinia­ns”.

The US, however, refused to comment, in stark contrast to the settlement criticism voiced by the previous Obama administra­tion.

The state department said President Donald Trump’s administra­tion “needs to have the chance to fully consult with all parties on the way forward”.

An official said that “indication­s are that this legislatio­n is likely to be reviewed by the relevant Israeli courts, and the Trump administra­tion will withhold comment on the legislatio­n until the relevant court ruling”.

The law, which passed 60 to 52 in its final reading, 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.

It would apply to 53 outposts as well as houses within existing settlement­s, potentiall­y legalising more than 3,800 homes, according to antisettle­ment NGO Peace Now, which called the law “another step towards annexation and away from a two-state solution”. Internatio­nal law considers all settlement­s to be illegal, but Israel distinguis­hes between those it sanctions and those it does not, which are known as outposts.

The law would protect settlers against eviction from outposts discovered to have been built on private Palestinia­n land as in the case of Amona, where 42 families were evicted and their homes demolished in recent days on the orders of the Israeli Supreme Court.

To some Israelis, the law reflects the God-given right over the territory, regardless of the courts, the Palestinia­ns and the internatio­nal community.

“All of the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people,” Science Minister Ofir Akunis of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said, using the biblical term that included the West Bank.

“This right is eternal and indisputab­le,” Akunis added.

Palestinia­n official Hanan Ashrawi said the law “signals the final annexation of the West Bank. It is imperative that the internatio­nal community, including the US and the EU, assumes its moral, human and legal responsibi­lities and puts an end to Israel’s lawlessnes­s and its system of apartheid and ethnic cleansing,” she said. “Accountabi­lity should include punitive measures and sanctions before it is too late.”

The law marked the first time Israel had applied its civil law to land in the West Bank recognised as Palestinia­n, law professor Amichai Cohen said.

Herzog compared the law to a train that would take Israeli officials to the Hague, where the ICC is located, “and out of its cabins will come internatio­nal charges against Jewish and Israeli soldiers and officers”.

Israeli attorney-general Avichai Mandelblit has warned that the law may be unconstitu­tional and risks exposing Israel to internatio­nal prosecutio­n for war crimes.

Human Rights Watch said the legislatio­n “reflects Israel’s manifest disregard of internatio­nal law” and deepens the “de facto permanent occupation” of the West Bank. “The Trump administra­tion cannot shield them from the scrutiny of the ICC”, the rights group warned.

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

Israel has approved more than 6,000 settler homes since Trump took office on January 20, having signalled a softer stance on the issue than Obama.

TO SOME ISRAELIS, THE LAW REFLECTS THE GOD-GIVEN RIGHT OVER THE TERRITORY, REGARDLESS OF THE COURTS AND THE PALESTINIA­NS

 ??  ?? Private property: A boy rides his bicycle past houses in the Israeli settlement­s of Ofra, in the occupied West Bank.
Private property: A boy rides his bicycle past houses in the Israeli settlement­s of Ofra, in the occupied West Bank.

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