Israeli bill to recognize West Bank outposts approved

Amona’s fate threatens to destabilize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line coalition.

The Israeli government already has at its disposal several tools with which to evict Palestinian residents from their homes, in order to use that land to develop Jewish-only neighbourhoods and settlements.

An Israeli ministerial committee has voted unilaterally to “legalise” settlements on occupied land condemned as illegal by the global community.

Undeterred by the court ruling, the Israeli government wants to pass a law that would make Amona and other wildcat settlements in the West Bank legal.

“But this bill is written for everyone”, Jeremy Saltan, of the Jewish Home Party, told Al Jazeera.

The passing of the draft bill came just days after Bennett, who champions settlement expansion, said that the idea of a Palestinian state was over after Donald Trump’s election as United States President.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, referred to the move as “completely unacceptable”.

The Palestinian landowners would be offered compensation in return for the land being seized.

The Amona outpost, where at least 40 Israeli families reside, was slated for demolition in 2008 after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in favor of Palestinians whose private land the settlement outpost was built on.

The government had asked the high court to extend the deadline by seven months while it seeks a new location for the settlers, and Netanyahu fears the bill could jeopardise its case.

She declined to answer question regarding a possible anti-settlement move by the U.S.in the United Nations Security Council.

The building of these outposts usually entails armed Jewish settlers occupying Palestinian homes and farms in the occupied West Bank.

Domestic and global critics of the Israeli policy have said efforts to preserve the hilltop outposts is a sign that the right-wing government seeks to expand the footprint of occupied West Bank settlements to block the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state.

“Israel and America share so numerous same values, such as freedom of speech, freedom of worship and the importance of creating opportunities for all citizens to pursue their dreams”, Trump told Israeli media after his election.

“Settlements, under all its forms, are illegal with respect to worldwide law”.

While many countries have consulates in Jerusalem which cater to citizens residing in the occupied Palestinian territory, embassies to Israel are mostly located in the Tel Aviv area.