The land-grabbers’ new clothes

Article 1 by AP, posted in Ynet news, 2 and 3 by Barak Ravid in Haaretz

Knesset members arguing about the Regulation bill which they went on to pass. Photo by Ohad Zwigenberg

World lashes out at Israel over settlements bill

World leaders and bodies such as the UN, Britain, France and Turkey have all come out against the Regulation Bill saying it harms Israel’s international standing and commitment to a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; President Hollande: law ‘opens the way to the annexation of occupied territories.’

By Associated Press, posted by Ynet news
February 07, 2017

A Palestinian Cabinet minister on Tuesday called on the international community to punish Israel for a contentious new law, just hours after the Knesset adopted the bill to retroactively legalize thousands of West Bank settlement homes built on private Palestinian land.

The explosive law, approved by lawmakers late on Monday, is the latest in a series of pro-settler steps taken by Israel’s government since the election of US President Donald Trump. It is expected to trigger international outrage and a flurry of lawsuits against the measure.

By late afternoon Tuesday, French President François Hollande called on the Israeli government to repeal the law, warning that it marked the beginning of annexation.

Similarly, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a statement urging the international community to oppose the law.

The ramp-up of settlements “would open the way to the annexation of occupied territories”, Hollande said at news conference after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“I think that Israel and its government could revise this text,” Hollande added.

“This law is contrary to international law,” Abbas said. “It’s an aggression against our people,” he added.

“Nobody can legalize the theft of the Palestinian lands. Building settlements is a crime, building settlements is against all international laws,” said Palestinian Tourism and Antiquities Minister Rula Maayaa. “I think it is time now for the international community to act concretely to stop the Israelis from these crimes.”

According to the law, Palestinian landowners would be compensated either with money or alternative land, even if they did not agree to give up their property. Critics say the legislation enshrines into law the theft of Palestinian land, and it is expected to be challenged in Israel’s Supreme Court.

The vote passed 60-52 in the 120-member Knesset. The raucous debate saw opposition lawmakers shouting from their seats at governing coalition lawmakers speaking in favour of the vote. Some spectators in visitors’ seats raised a black cloth in apparent protest.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had voiced misgivings about the law in the lead-up to the vote, reportedly expressing concern that it could trigger international censure and saying he wanted to coordinate with the Trump administration before moving ahead on a vote.

He told reporters on a trip to London that he had updated Washington and was ready to move ahead with the law. Netanyahu was on his way back from the trip and was not present for the vote.

The White House’s immediate response was to refer to its statement last week that said the construction of new settlements “may not be helpful” in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace. The State Department later said “the Trump administration will withhold comment on the legislation until the relevant court ruling.”

New building in Ariel Photo by AFP

David Harris, CEO of AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization, said that “Israel’s High Court can and should reverse this misguided legislation” ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump in February.

Critics have also warned the bill could drag Israel into a legal battle at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands, which is already pursuing a preliminary examination into settlements.

Among the law’s problematic elements is that the West Bank is not sovereign Israeli territory and that Palestinians who live there are not citizens and do not have the right to vote for the government that imposed the law on them.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the law “unacceptable” and urged the international community to act immediately. “This is an escalation that would only lead to more instability and chaos,” he said.

Netanyahu faced intense pressure from within his nationalist coalition, especially from the pro-settler Bayit Yehudi party, to press ahead with the vote following the court-ordered evacuation last week of the illegal Amona outpost found to have been built on private Palestinian land.

Naftali Bennett, head of Bayit Yehudi, told Army Radio on Tuesday that the goal of the bill was create the same conditions in the settlements as in Israel proper.

“At the end of the day, behind all the talk there is a simple question: What do we want for the future of Israel?” he said.

World leaders and organizations lash out at Israel

British Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood [L]said:

It is of great concern that the bill paves the way for significant growth in settlements deep in the West Bank, threatening the viability of the two-state solution. As a longstanding friend of Israel, I condemn the passing of the Land Regularisation Bill by the Knesset, which damages Israel’s standing with its international partners.

“We reiterate our support for a two-state solution leading to a secure Israel that is safe from terrorism, and a contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian state.

French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said the passage of the new law was likely to further aggravate tensions in the region and called on Israel to “respect its international obligations and repeal the law.”

The UN also weighed in on the Regulation Bill with the UN Mideast envoy saying the law “crossed a very thick red line.”

Nickolay Mladenov, the UN’s coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the legislation “opens the floodgates to the potential annexation of the West Bank. If Israel moves to solidify its control over the area, it would imperil the internationally backed idea of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a negotiated peace deal,” he said.

The passage of the bill also cast a cloud over the visit of Turkish Tourism Minister, Nabi Avci, who said he hoped the High Court would strike the bill down. “I think, I hope, that on this issue, the high court will make the right decision, a decision in accordance with international law, a decision in accordance with United Nations decisions,” he said.

France Urges Israel to Take Back Land-grab Law: Honour Your International Commitments

France joins Britain, Turkey and Jordan in condemnation of new law that legalizes expropriation of Palestinian land. Law threatens viability of two-state solution, British minister says.

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz
February 07, 2017

France called on Israel on Tuesday to “take back” the so-called “Regularization Law” passed by the Israeli Knesset on Monday night, which enables the expropriation of private Palestinian land.

“I call on Israel to honor its international commitments and take back this law,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement.

“The law is another blow to the two-state solution,” Ayrault said, joining Britain, Turkey and Jordan in condemnation of the law. The French foreign minister also noted that the closing statement by the Paris peace summit concluded that the two-states solution is the only way to bring a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East.

The new law allows the state to declare private Palestinian land on which settlements or outposts were built, “in good faith or at the state’s instruction” as government property, and deny its owners the right to use or hold those lands until there is a diplomatic resolution of the status of the territories.

The measure provides a mechanism for compensating Palestinians whose lands will be seized. A landowner can receive an annual usage payment of 125 percent of the land’s value as determined by an assessment committee for renewable periods of 20 years, or an alternate plot of land if this is possible, whichever he chooses.

Britain also condemned the law. “The bill paves the way for significant growth in settlements deep in the West Bank, threatening the viability of the two-state solution,” said Tobias Ellwood, the Commonwealth Affairs minister for the Middle East and Africa.

“I condemn the passing of the Land Regularization Bill by the Knesset, which damages Israel’s standing with its international partners,” he said.

The new law allows the state to declare private Palestinian land on which settlements or outposts were built, “in good faith or at the state’s instruction” as government property, and deny its owners the right to use or hold those lands until there is a diplomatic resolution of the status of the territories.

The measure provides a mechanism for compensating Palestinians whose lands will be seized. A landowner can receive an annual usage payment of 125 percent of the land’s value as determined by an assessment committee for renewable periods of 20 years, or an alternate plot of land if this is possible, whichever he chooses.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met his British counterpart Theresa May in London on Monday, where the U.K. prime minister told him that the bill is unhelpful and would make things more difficult for Israel’s friends around the world.

Minutes before the meeting, May’s spokesman told the British press that the prime minister plans to tell Netanyahu she opposes settlement activity in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

Jordan and Turkey also condemned the law on Tuesday morning. Jordan’s Minister of Information Mohammed al-Mumani termed the law a “provocation” and stressed that it harms the possibility of the two-state solution and could lead to violent escalation in the region. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the law was unacceptable and that the policy of the Israeli government is destroying any basis for the two-state solution.

Also on Tuesday, Haaretz learned that a summit between Israel and the European Union scheduled for February 28 will be postponed in light of the land-grab law and a surge in settlement construction in the West Bank.

European diplomats noted that the meeting had already been delayed for five years, and was meant to signify a thawing in the relations between Israel and the EU.

The United Nations’ Mideast envoy said the law crossed a “very thick red line.” Nickolay Mladenov said the legislation “opens the floodgates to the potential annexation of the West Bank.” If Israel moves to solidify its control over the area, it would imperil the internationally backed idea of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a negotiated peace deal, he said.

“It will have a drastic legal consequence for Israel and for the nature of its democracy,” Mladenov said. “It crosses a very, very thick red line.”

AP contributed to this report

EU Foreign Policy Chief: Israel’s Land-grab Law Entrenches One-state Reality of Unequal Rights

Federica Mogherini says the so-called ‘Regularization Law’ is contrary to previous commitments by Israeli governments and illegal under international law.

Bt Barak Ravid , Haaretz
February 07, 2017

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday strongly condemned Israel’s so-called “Regularization Law,” which retroactively legalizes the expropriation of privately owned Palestinian land.

Mogherini said the law “crosses a new and dangerous threshold by legalizing under Israeli law the seizure of Palestinian property rights and effectively authorising the confiscation of privately owned Palestinian land in occupied territory.”

Mogherini continued that “the law may provide for ‘legalizing’ numerous settlements and outposts previously considered as illegal even under Israeli law, which would be contrary to previous commitments by Israeli governments and illegal under international law.”

“Should it be implemented, the law would further entrench a one-state reality of unequal rights, perpetual occupation and conflict,” Mogherini added.”The EU urges the Israeli leadership to refrain from implementing the law and to avoid measures that further raise tensions and endanger the prospects for a peaceful solution to the conflict.”

European diplomats told Haaretz earlier on Tuesday that a summit between Israel and the European Union scheduled for February 28 had been postponed following the passage of the controversial law. The diplomats said that during Monday’s meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers, several states voiced their opposition to holding the summit. The meeting was meant to mark the tightened cooperation between Israel and the EU and to set out a work plan and priorities for improving relations between the sides.

Mogherini’s remarks follow condemnation from Turkey, Jordan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. France called on Israel to “take back” the law “to honor its international commitments” and Britain said the law “damages Israel’s standing with its international partners” and threatens “the viability of the two-state solution.”

The new law provides a mechanism for compensating Palestinians whose lands will be seized. A landowner can receive an annual usage payment of 125 percent of the land’s value as determined by an assessment committee for renewable periods of 20 years, or an alternate plot of land if this is possible, whichever he chooses.