«Israel» to Vote on Legalizing Wildcat W Bank Settlements

Local Editor

The "Israeli" entity's PM Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking a parliamentary vote to legalize unauthorized "Israeli" settlements in the West Bank. The move comes as Netanyahu gets a diplomatic boost by Trump's pro-"Israel" statements.

Netanyahu said Sunday he would seek a parliamentary approval to legalize unauthorized "Israeli" settlements built on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

Last year, lawmakers passed a draft legislation proposing a legal status for wildcat settlements across the West Bank. The international community called on the apartheid "Israeli" regime to halt any construction on the lands.

Wildcat settlements are those built by "Israeli" settlers without Tel Aviv's permission.

A statement from the prime minister's office said the bill would be submitted to the country's parliament on Monday "to allow us to regularize once and for all settlements in [the West Bank] and prevent repeated attempts to damage them."

The measure would apply to 16 West Bank settlements and outposts.

The bill would allow the "Israeli" entity to declare private Palestinian land on which settlements or outposts were built "innocently or at the state's instruction" as regime property, and deny its owners the right to use or hold those lands until there is a diplomatic resolution of the status of the territories.

The term "innocently" refers to instances in which settlers ostensibly did not know they were building on privately-owned Palestinian land.

The purpose of the bill, the revised version said, is to "regulate settlement in Judea and Samaria and allow its continued establishment and development."

Illegal settlement construction in the West Bank had skyrocketed since Netanyahu took office in 2009, with 15,000 additional "Israeli" settlers moving into units on the occupied West Bank in 2016 alone.

The international community considers the settlements illegal even if they are approved by "Israeli" legislators. The United Nations [UN] also consider them a major impediment for conflict resolution between "Israel" and Palestine.

Analysts said Netanyahu wants to take advantage of the new US President Donald Trump's less critical stance on the settlements.

"‘Israel' continues to be a huge ally of the United States," said Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman. "[Trump] wants to grow closer with ‘Israel' to make sure that it gets the full respect that it deserves in the Middle East, and that's what he's going to do."

In December last year, UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an end to illegal "Israeli" settlements. The US abstained from the vote, allowing the measure to pass by a vote of 14 in favor in the 15-member Council. The "Israeli" entity lashed out at the former US President Barack Obama for the move.

Trump, who was president-elect at the time, said that upon his inauguration, "things will be different" in US-UN relations, thus hinting that his administration would not pursue the path taken by Obama on the settlement dispute.

According to the Peace Now rights group, some 797 of the wildcat structures are located in 55 outposts. It warned that the bill's passage would help pave the way for the eventual authorization of those outposts.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team