Israel Bill Seeks To Legalize Settler Land Grabs
Isreael’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation is due to discuss Sunday a bill that would legalize settlement construction on private Palestinian land, Haaretz learned on Thursday.
According to the bill, initiated by Habayit Hayehudi MK Zevulun Orlev, Palestinian owners could not demand the clearing of residential construction on their land if they failed to claim it for 4 years since the construction’s conclusion.
Instead, the bill would allow the court to compensate the claimant or provide him with an alternative tract of land that would both be nearby and of equal value.
A similar bill was proposed this past Sunday, but the discussion of its approval was postponed for another two months, by which time a panel formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to inspect the legal avenues through which illegal outposts could be made legal is due to hand in its conclusions.
Officials have estimated that the new bill would also be postponed as to wait for the results of Netanyahu’s panel.
In October, the PM instructed Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to set up a task force to explore ways to legalize houses in the settlements built on private Palestinian land.
The decision was prompted by heavy pressure from settlers and rightists who rued the state’s decision to demolish several outposts built on private Palestinian land over the next half year.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
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