Israel’s Knesset passed a controversial bill on Monday, February 6, that retroactively legalizes thousands of settler homes built on privately owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, drawing widespread anger from Palestinian leaders, Hadash and Communist Party of Israel members and human rights groups.
The Knesset Plenum (Photo: Knesset)
The Knesset voted 60 to 52 to approve the contentious bill despite warnings by the government’s top lawyer who had previously called it “unconstitutional.” The so-called “Regularization Law” applies to about 4,000 settlement homes in the West Bank for which settlers could prove ignorance that they had built on privately owned land and had received encouragement from the Israeli state to do so. The bill is seen as another step towards at least a partial annexation of the West Bank, and could lead to the retroactive authorization of a host of illegal settlements which were built on privately owned Palestinian.
In name of all opposition parties, Hadash MK Dov Khenin (Joint List) addressed the plenum during the Knesset session, saying that the opposition would not cooperate with the bill’s legislative process, accusing its proponents of acting counter to regulations. “We, the members of the opposition factions have repeatedly stated that we object to the way this debate is being handled counter to Knesset regulations… Never in the history of the Knesset [has it] happened that such a fundamental debate takes place as if it were a minor matter, and that MKs can decide whether to show up or not. Therefore, all opposition factions have decided not to cooperate with this anti-parliamentary move, especially in a bill the lawfulness of which is in doubt.”
The Joint List release a statement in which it indicated that the law grants a stamp of approval to the crimes of occupation and the theft of Palestinian land, and stands to kill any chance to reach a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Despite the fact that this anti-democratic law violates international law, the right-wing government persists on slowly carrying out its plan to annex the Palestinian occupied territories. This will drag the region over a cliff into disaster and perpetuate the conflict, hatred and bloodshed in the region.”
“Tonight it became clear that Netanyahu is willing to compromise the future of both Israelis and Palestinians in order to satisfy a small group of extreme settlers for the sake of his own political survival,” added Peace Now. “By passing this law, Netanyahu makes theft an official Israeli policy and stains the Israeli law books. By giving a green light to settlers to build illegally on private Palestinian land, the regulation bill is another step towards annexation and away from a two state solution. In light of this madness, we must act as the responsible adults and turn to the Supreme Court in order to strike down this dangerous law,” said the peace movement in a statement.
Minutes after the vote, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) slammed the new law as a means to “legalize theft” of Palestinian land. The law demonstrated “the Israeli government’s will to destroy any chances for a political solution,” the PLO said in a statement, stressing that the “Israeli settlement enterprise negates peace and the possibility of the two-state solution.” PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat, said that the law was “legalizing theft of Palestinian land.” In a written statement he added: “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. Time is overdue to stop treating Israel as a state above the law.”
PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi stated that the law gave “clear license to the settlers to embark on a land grab in the occupied West Bank with impunity.” “Such a law signals the final annexation of the West Bank,” she said. “This also proves beyond doubt that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist, racist coalition government are deliberately breaking the law and destroying the very foundations of the two-state solution and the chances for peace and stability.”
Four Israeli human rights and peace organizations – Peace Now, Yesh Din, Adalah, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel – said they intend to petition the Supreme Court to cancel the law. “This law will make theft an official Israeli policy by retroactively legalizing illegal construction on private lands,” said Anat Ben Nun, a spokesperson for the anti-settlement organization Peace Now. The bill would apply to 53 other outposts and homes within existing settlements recognized by Israel built on Palestinian land, according to Peace Now. More than 3,800 homes would be “legalized,” Ben Nun said.
