Israel should build thousands of settlement units, says extremist MK

A member of the Israeli parliament has said that the government should build thousands of new settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories instead of evacuating the settlement “outpost” of Amona near Ramallah, Quds Press has reported. Moti Yogev MK, of the extremist Jewish Home party, said that the government’s latest approval of 3,000 new settlement units “proves the return to the normal life of settlement building.”

Yogev added that the next step for the government should be the implementation of Israeli law in all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, which means their effective annexation. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.

The Israeli police are preparing for the forceful evacuation of the illegal — even under Israeli law — settlement outpost of Amona mentioned by Yogev. On Tuesday, the colonial-settlers there were given 48 hours’ notice to leave voluntarily. Dozens of them gathered inside a synagogue within the outpost, pledging to undermine the evacuation.

The Israeli High Court decided in 2014 that Amona is an illegal settlement outpost because it is built on private Palestinian land. After several appeals it decided that it must be evacuated by 25 December last year.

The Knesset is due to discuss a proposal called “Organisation of Settlements” next week. This was introduced by right-wing MKs and aims at legalising thousands of settlement units built on private Palestinian land retrospectively so that they come under Israeli civil law and military orders.