Israeli ministers approve bill to ‘legalise’ settler outposts

Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation yesterday unanimously approved a bill that would serve to legalise so-called settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank.

The bill would have to pass several readings in the Knesset to become law, the first of which is expected to take place on Wednesday.

There are roughly 100 technically unauthorised “outposts” dotted across the West Bank, in addition to some 120 official settlements. Outposts are, however, typically established with the support of Israeli state bodies, and their presence tolerated.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law.

According to Haaretz, yesterday’s vote “took place against the backdrop of a confrontation” between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Home chair and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, the latter accused of advancing a bill that cannot stand up to legal scrutiny.

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit told ministers “that the bill contradicts international law and that he would be unable to defend it in the High Court of Justice.”

Netanyahu had opposed holding the vote yesterday, while the state seeks a delay from the High Court for the scheduled demolition of Amona outpost next month.

Bennett welcomed the result of the vote, saying: “The state of Israel today began an historic process of regulating the settlements in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank].”

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, however, told Bennett he was “endangering the future of the settlement enterprise on an electoral whim”, and claimed that “the most important thing is to coordinate positions with the new American administration.”

The proposed bill retroactively authorises settler outposts, including those established on private Palestinian land, though only in cases where the “the government was involved in their establishment.” Palestinians whose land has been stolen “will receive financial compensation.”