Israel MKs hope to push through outpost authorisation bill this month

Israeli parliamentarians from the Knesset’s “Land of Israel” caucus have submitted a draft bill that would enable the legalisation of some 70 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli law distinguishes between state-sanctioned settlements, and those established without official approval. Under international law, all settlements in occupied territory are illegal.

According to the Jerusalem Post, MKs Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) and Yoav Kisch (Likud) have submitted the bill so that “the Ministerial Legislative Committee can vote on it this coming Sunday before it disperses for the summer break on July 18”.

The paper reports that the bill is designed to support a May 2017 security cabinet decision to create a committee to “regulate” 70 outposts and stipulates “that government offices and enforcement agencies should treat those communities…as if they were already legalised”.

Read: Israel seeks 1,000 new settlement units in East Jerusalem

The law also calls for a suspension of any demolitions against the outposts’ structures, and for the outposts in question “to receive full municipal services”, and “hookups to electricity and water”.

The Jerusalem Post noted that there are a number of other initiatives being attempted to boost Israel’s grip on the occupied West Bank, with the ministerial committee yesterday delaying debates on three such bills.

One draft law would allow Israel’s settlements in the south Hebron Hills and Kiryat Arba in Hebron “to be considered part of the Negev region for economic purposes”, thus allowing “them to benefit from government initiatives and grants to develop the Negev”.

#LandGrab

Another draft bill would amend existing practice so as to enable anyone to directly purchase land in Area C, some 60 per cent of the occupied West Bank; currently, Israeli citizens are technically prohibited from doing so (though Israeli companies can).

The third draft bill would rescind the 2005 Disengagement Law as it applied to four settlements in the northern occupied West Bank; though dismantled, the sites of the four settlements have “remained under Israeli military rule”, and now there are calls for them to be rebuilt.

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