Bringing settlers into the fold


November 16, 2016
Sarah Benton

In this posting 1) Al Jazeera on the bill; 2) statement from Peace Now; 3) Ynet report on protest against new law.


The quick-build outpost of Amona, east of Ramallah, declared illegal by Israel’s Supreme Court. Photo May 18, 2016 by Oded Balilty/ AP

Israeli committee approves bill legalising outposts

The draft bill could embolden armed Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to continue taking over Palestinian homes.

By Al Jazeera/ agencies
November 14, 2016

Israel has approved a controversial draft bill aimed at authorising Jewish settlements that were built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank without Israeli government permission.

The bill must now pass through three readings in parliament and also be ratified by the Supreme Court before it can become law.

Sunday’s vote was rushed through the ministerial committee for legislation in an attempt to prevent the evacuation of the outpost of Amona in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by the end of the year.

The Supreme Court had ordered the evacuation of settlers from Amona and the demolition of their homes by December 25.

Amona, near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, is home to about 40 Jewish families and was built on land privately owned by Palestinians who had petitioned the court for the outpost to be removed.

The international community considers all Israeli settlements in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank to be illegal, whether they are authorised by the government or not.

The Israeli government already has at its disposal several tools with which to evict Palestinian residents from their homes, in order to use that land to develop Jewish-only neighbourhoods and settlements.

These include Israeli court orders, as well as military force. But so far, the Israeli courts have maintained that outposts built by settlers without governmental approval are illegal.

The building of these outposts usually entails armed Jewish settlers occupying Palestinian homes and farms in the occupied West Bank. Several rights groups have accused the Israeli military of ignoring, or in many cases aiding the armed settlers.

The bill, approved unanimously on Sunday, stipulates that the government could order the confiscation of privately owned Palestinian land in exchange for compensation.

It was at the centre of a row between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had sought to delay the vote, and hardliners in his ruling right-wing Likud party.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the religious nationalist Jewish Home party, succeeded in rallying support for the vote leading to Sunday’s endorsement of the bill.

Netanyahu had insisted on delaying any political move and told his cabinet to allow the new administration of US president-elect Donald Trump to take over in Washington before setting future policy.

Netanyahu last week expressed confidence that he and Trump could work together to bring US-Israeli relations to “new heights”.

The anti-settlement Peace Now movement denounced the vote.

“It is a shame: the government is backing a law that will allow the confiscation of privately owned Palestinian land in order to build settlements,” said Hagit Ofran, one of the watchdog’s leaders.

According to Ofran, about 2,000 homes have been built on land owned by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and therefore the draft bill could retroactively legalise these dwellings.

Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit warned the ministers that he would be unable to defend the bill before the Supreme Court.

A statement by Mandelblit said the bill “undermines private property and is contrary to Israeli law and international law”, public radio reported.

Mandelblit also warned that if the bill were to become law, it could spur many people to lodge official complaints with the International Criminal Court.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said that enacting such a law would force the Palestinians to appeal to international bodies.


Ministerial Committee Approves Regulation Bill

Statement by Peace Now
November 15, 2016

On November 13, the Ministerial Committee for legislation approved the regulation bill, which seeks to retroactively legalize illegal outposts built on private Palestinian lands. According to the bill, private lands taken for the purpose of settlement with the government’s involvement will be “leased” to settlers, while Palestinian landowners will receive financial compensation and an alternative land but no right to appeal.

The timing of the approval of the regulation bill relates to the pending evacuation of the illegal outpost of Amona, which based on the High Court’s verdict must happen by December 25. On November 14 the High Court dismissed the state’s request to delay the evacuation any further.

The proposed legislation:

The current version of the regulation bill was drafted after the Attorney General had deemed a previous draft unconstitutional. The Attorney General stated that the original regulation bill draft does not only violate international law but is also contrary to the Israeli rule of law. According to the previous draft of the regulation bill, private Palestinian lands were to be expropriated and then allocated to settlers. By offering a leasing of the land the legislators were trying to avoid severe legal difficulties. Nonetheless, legal issues remain in the new draft as well, and yesterday the Attorney General stuck to his opposition to the bill. In 2012, former Minister Michael Eitan (from Likud party) warned that “even our best friends will not be able to defend such legislation that would tarnish us with the stain of apartheid and expose us to the risk of international sanctions” (Yisrael Hayom newspaper, June 3, 2012).

After the approval of the regulation bill by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, the government now officially endorses it, but in order for the bill to pass into law, it will still have to pass a preliminary reading and three readings at the Knesset, and go through discussions in the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. A preliminary reading is scheduled for November 16. The support of each Member of Knesset of the coalition is crucial for the passing of this bill, and although the bill passed unanimously yesterday evening, there is much disagreement around it among coalition members. Even if it passes in the Knesset, the law can still be contested at the Supreme Court. However, the cancellation of the law by the High Court will allow pro-settlers Members of Knesset to show their constituencies that they did everything in their powers to pass the law, and might further deteriorate the status of the High Court.

The meaning of the regulation bill:

1. Legalization of thousands of housing units on private Palestinian lands: The purpose of the proposed legislation is to retroactively legalize housing units built on private Palestinian lands in illegal outposts and settlements. In 2006, Peace Now revealed that approximately 32% of the settlements are established on private Palestinian lands. Recently, settler groups such as Regavim who have lobbied for the bill argued that there are over 2000 settler homes on private Palestinian lands which would be affected by this legislation.

2. Permission to steal: According to the draft law, any person can steal any land in the West Bank, as long as he does so for the purpose of settlement. Furthermore, this bill grants a green light for settlers to takeover additional private lands in the future, knowing that they can be “regulated” for their usage. Thus, the draft law will practically allow the government and private individuals to steal lands of Palestinians without any legal implications.

3. A fatal blow to democracy: The draft law is meant to retroactively cancel Supreme Court rulings that do not fit the pro-settler ideology. It is an attempt to change the rules of the democratic game and enable the government to get rid of the restrictions of the law.

4. What is temporary becomes permanent: The idea of the lease is simply a bluff meant to evade land expropriation. History in the region has shown that what is temporary becomes permanent. Thus, the leasing means a de-facto expropriation.

5. A contradiction of Israeli and international law: The Supreme Court ruled that the Israel’s authority to expropriate private Palestinian land in the Occupied Territories is limited to cases in which those benefiting from the expropriation will also be Palestinians. An expropriation of private Palestinian lands for Israelis, meaning, for the purpose of settlement, is illegal according to high court rulings as well as according to international law. In Israel proper, the government is allowed to expropriate lands for public purposes (and not for other private purposes). However, the private lands of Palestinians in the West Bank – who do not constitute as citizens with equal rights in a democracy, but rather residents with no voting rights living under a military rule – cannot be taken for the use of its own citizens.

6. Legislation in an area that is not part of the state of Israel: The draft law would apply only to the West Bank, namely to an area outside of the sovereign state of Israel, which is under military rule. The Palestinian residents that will be affected by the law do not have the right to vote for the Knesset, and therefore this is clearly an undemocratic legislation. Because the Israeli parliament does not have legal authority to legislate in the West Bank, the bill requires the head of the Central Command to issue an order implementing the content of the law.



Peace Now Director Avi Buskila argues with Naftali Bennett outside the education minister’s home. Peace Now photo.

Regulation Bill draws protests outside Bennett’s home

Left-wing peace activists stage protest outside education minister’s home against Regulation bill to legalize outposts in the West Bank; Bennett: ‘Law in Ofra is the same as in Tel Aviv.’

By Raanan Ben Zur, Ynet news
November 16, 2016

Dozens of Peace Now activists demonstrated outside Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s (Bayit Yehudi) home Tuesday night in Ra’anana in protest against the Regulation Bill which aims to legalize outposts in the West Bank built on privately owned Palestinian land.

The protesters carried placards saying “government of the hilltop youth” in reference to the far right-wing group which constructs haphazard and illegal outposts in areas of the West Bank. They also chanted calls such as “Bennett Bennett resign, the public is worth more.”

Bennett eventually left his home and confronted the protesters directly. “I love you. You are doing what you need to do in a democracy. But from my point of view the law in Ofra is the same as in Tel Aviv,” he told them.

Responding to Bennett, Director of Peace Now Avi Buskila quipped: “According to that logic, there is no problem from your point of view with our putting a caravan tomorrow in your back yard.”

You continue to protest and we will continue what we are doing,” Bennett retorted before returning to his home.

The Regulation Bill is set to be brought before the Knesset for a preliminary reading on Wednesday after being approved on Sunday night by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. According to the coalition, efforts are still being undertaken to enlist supporters.

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