Lawmakers criticize move to save Amona, accusing ministers and PM of damaging Israel’s standing; NGOs vow to challenge ‘unconstitutional’ proposal
Opposition politicians on Sunday night reacted furiously to a controversial bill that gained initial approval from cabinet ministers which would legalize some unauthorized Israeli outposts in the West Bank.
The bill is not yet law, but the nod of support from the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday means it is on its way toward becoming a government-sponsored bill, a status that would put significant pressure on the coalition’s majority in the Knesset to help advance it into law.
The legislation, proposed by the nationalist-Orthodox Jewish Home party, is designed to avert the court-ordered demolition of the Amona outpost, which the High Court of Justice has established is built on privately owned Palestinian land. The bill was previously deemed unconstitutional and a likely violation of international law by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who told the government there may not be legal grounds on which to defend it when it faces an all-but-certain appeal to the High Court.
“The government of Israel, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, delivered another blow to the judiciary of Israel and damaged Israel’s position in the world for political gain,” Opposition head MK Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) said Sunday.
“Those who voted for [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu got [Jewish Home party leader Naftali] Bennett instead, and rather than run a government, all we see is a prime minister who works to protect his own interests and engage in [media] campaigns against his critics,” he charged.
In 2014, the High Court ruled that the Amona outpost, which lies several kilometers east of Ramallah, was built on private Palestinian land and must be demolished by December 25 of this year. The decision followed over a decade of delays and appeals by the state, Palestinians from a nearby village and the residents of Amona.
The impending evacuation could destabilize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongly right-wing coalition, which relies heavily on the pro-settlement right.
The so-called “Arrangement Bill” was brought by Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to a vote before the powerful cabinet committee, which is co-chaired by Shaked. The move is seen as an attempt to pressure Netanyahu, who has tried to delay and torpedo the measure.
Mandelblit warned it may contravene not only Israeli law, which only partly recognizes the West Bank as formally occupied but nevertheless maintains strict protections of private property in the territory, but also international treaties to which Israel is a signatory.
It also undermines the requirement that the government carry out the demolition order of the High Court of Justice after multiple delays.
“This bill is inconsistent with the fundamentals of the rule of law, in that it contradicts the duty of the authorities to respect the decisions made by the judiciary in individual cases,” Mandelblit said after the vote, according to Army Radio.
Yesh Din, an Israeli left-wing rights group, condemned the bill, calling it “a legal stunt designed to legally sanction the takeover of Palestinian land in the West Bank.”
“The ministers who supported the Arrangement Bill show contempt both for the law and for the prime minister,” claimed MK Zehava Galon, head of the left-wing Meretz party. “The main thing [they care about] is to suck up to the extremist settlers,” she tweeted.
Labor MK Erel Margalit called for a change of leadership. “Today Netanyahu murdered the legacy of (assassinated former prime minister Yitzhak) Rabin,” he tweeted. “It’s time to wake up and change the leadership in Israel.”
Israel’s anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now also denounced the bill, calling it “unconstitutional” and vowing to petition the High Court against it should it pass into law.
“We are confident that in due course the High Court will stop this rampage of the far-right that seeks to regulate the theft of private property through legislation,” Peace Now tweeted in Hebrew.
As reported by The Times of Israel