Draft Bill legalising outposts approved by Israeli Committee

In a controversial move, Israel has approved the Draft Bill which authorises the Jewish settlements built on private Palestinian land in the occupied parts of West Bank without the permission of Israeli government. The Bill has to pass through three parliamentary readings and be ratified by the Supreme Court before it can become law.

The vote has been rushed through the ministerial committee to prevent the evacuation of the Amona outpost at West-Bank by the end of the year as per the orders of the Supreme Court to evacuate the settlers and the demolition of their homes by December 25, 2016. Amona, which lies near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah houses about 40 Jewish families. The settlement has been raised on private land of Palestinians who had appealed to the Supreme Court for the removal of outpost.  The international community has also considered all Israeli settlements at Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem and also at West Bank as illegal irrespective of the fact they are authorized by the government or not.

Israeli government has many tools with it to cause to evict Palestinian residents from their homes to make use of their private land for Jewish settlements. These primarily include orders of Court or even use of military force despite the stance of the courts that such settlements are illegal. Many human rights groups have accused the Israeli military to support the armed settlers in their ventures. The draft bill seeks to give compensation for confiscation of land to Palestinians.

PM Netanyahu has delayed any political move till the President-elect Trump takes charge in January.