Israel land-grab law to go before court
Groups file petition amid world outrage
JERUSALEM // Rights organisations in Israel yesterday readied for a court battle against a new law that legalises seizure of Palestinian private property amid a wave of international criticism.
The Arab minority rights group Adalah, the liberal Peace Now and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel were among those preparing petitions to the supreme court.
They hope itwill strike down the Settlement Regulation Bill passed by the Knesset in a 6052 vote late on Monday.
“We think that legally it’s a clear case,” said Adalah lawyer Suhad Bishara.
“We’re still hoping the court will declare the law illegal and unconstitutional, with no validation in the West Bank because it violates international humanitarian law, the legal framework the military governor should be bound to.”
“The supreme court has issued decisions in the past that say the occupation authorities cannot violate property rights for political purposes.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres yesterday said: “This bill is in contravention of international law and will have far-reaching legal consequences for Israel.”
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called the law an “attack against our people”, and said it was illegal and “obviously against the wishes of the international community”.
Britain, France and Turkey were among the nations that condemned the Israeli move, with French foreign minister Jean- Marc Ayrault saying the law “could exacerbate regional tensions”.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said it breached last month’s UN Security Council Resolution that declared all forms of settlement to be illegal.
Adalah’s petition will represent 13 or 14 Palestinian local councils in the West Bank on whose land settlements have been built, said Mati Milstein, a spokesman from the group.
The petition will include aerial photos of 16 settlements overlaid with the borders of the Palestinian local government areas on whose lands they are build.
In a landmark 1979 case, the supreme court deemed it illegal to build settlements on what is clearly private Palestinian property, limiting seizures only for military necessity or to “state land”.
Unless overturned, the new law, billed by its supporters as a major step towards annexation of the West Bank, effectively nullifies that decision, opening even more swaths of Palestinian land to Israeli settlement.
It also legalised many thousands of houses built on private property in hundreds of places.
Israeli attorney general Avichai Mendelblit has said he will refuse to defend the law against challenges and defence minister Avigdor Lieberman said last month that the law had a 100 per cent chance of being struck down by the supreme court.
But Israel’s hard right government is calling for pressure on the court, with culture minister Miriam Regev calling for its powers to be diluted if it strikes down the law and advocating all-out annexation of the West Bank if the court rules against the government.
“The time has come to tell the supreme court you are not the decision-makers – we are,” Ms Regev said.
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said the bill was “putting the last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution”.
“All Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine are illegal and a war crime, regardless of any law passed by the Israeli parliament or any decision taken by any Israeli judge,” Mr Erekat said.
“The international community has the responsibility to take concrete measures to protect the Palestinian people under Israel’s military rule, rather than just issuing statements.”
Gaza’s Palestinian Centre for Human Rights called for “immediate and effective” action from the international community “to restore confidence in the rule of law and put an end to the prolonged Israeli challenge and denial of the international laws, and to the inherent impunity enjoyed by Israel for decades”. Rights groups and commentators warned of the damage to the prospects of peace if the law was not overturned.
Peace Now said the legislation was “another step towards annexation and away from the two-state solution”.
Palestinian Jordan Times columnist Daoud Kuttab said it buried the idea of an exchange of land for peace on which diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict so far have been based.
“The last 50 years we had the premise there is a concept of land for peace. Clearly now there is no concept of land for peace,” Kuttab said.
“The question is what Israel wants with the Palestinians. Will they be under apartheid, with no political rights forever?”