Israel covertly adopts pro-settlement report recommendations

The Israeli government has begun to advance some of the recommendations of the 2012 controversial pro-settlement Levy report which does not consider the Israeli presence in the West Bank an occupation, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported today.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed the committee in 2012 headed by former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Edmund Levy to investigate legal aspects of illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank and the Israeli presence there.

The report recommended setting up special courts to address land disputes in the West Bank and to minimise using evacuation orders against settlers.

The newspaper said the report proposed a series of recommendations aimed at facilitating the establishment of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. At the time, the Israeli government intended to adopt the recommendations and prepared a draft resolution in this regard, but retreated at the last minute for fear of international opposition to the move and decided to postpone addressing the report.

Haaretz revealed that parts of the recommendations have been adopted, claiming that Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon instructed the Coordinator of Government Activities in the West Bank to prepare for the adoption of the report’s central recommendations, particularly the establishment of a court dedicated to land issues in the West Bank and noted that the work to establish the court has been carried out.

The new measures would deny Palestinians the right to go to the Israeli civil administration and the Israeli army to evacuate settlers who invade their land and occupy it; instead they will have to go to a specialised court. They would also minimise the use of court orders which authorise the head of Civil Administration to expel settlers who invade and occupy private land even if the owners do not file complaints against them.