Israeli High Court Freezes Push To ‘Legalize’ Illegal West Bank Outposts
Image by Getty Images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The High Court of Justice froze a controversial law that legalizes West Bank outposts built illegally on private Palestinian land.
The court’s interim order, issued Thursday, postposed for two months implementation of the Regulation Law. Several Palestinian authorities had challenged the legality of the law. The government has until the end of the freeze to respond.
The law allows the government to expropriate private Palestinian land on which illegal outpost homes have been built. However, the outpost must have been built in good faith or have government support. Palestinian landowners are to be compensated financially or with other land.
Widely condemned by Israeli and foreign activists, the law could allow the government to retroactively legalize some 4,000 illegally built Israeli homes.
Ahead of the final Knesset votes on the law in February, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit warned it violated Israeli and international law. After the law passed, Mandelblit officially notified the High Court that he would not defend the legislation if it was challenged.
Private attorney Harel Arnon replaced Mandelblit to represent the state on High Court petitions against the law, which was originally meant to save the since-razed outpost of Amona.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
