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Israel delays parliamentary vote on settler homes bill

Xinhua, December 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israel on Sunday delayed a parliamentary vote on a controversial bill to legalize thousands of settler homes in the Israeli-controlled West Bank.

The first reading of the bill, which legalizes about 4,000 settler homes in Amona, was originally scheduled for Monday.

A meeting of heads of coalition factions decided to put off the vote on the bill until Wednesday, after the right-center faction of Kulanu said its members of the parliament would not vote in favor of the bill.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the meeting that the state would petition the Supreme Court, asking for a 30-day delay in the eviction of the unauthorized outpost of Amona.

The Supreme Court rejected a similar request on Nov. 14, criticizing the government for repeatedly postponing the execution of the evacuation.

"In this case, as with previous ones, we have been asked 'at the last minute' to extend the date of an eviction that was set by a judgment," the judges said in their decision.

The judges said that if they continue to allow such extensions, the dates might "turn into recommendations" instead of orders.

In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that Amona was illegally built on private Palestinian lands and must be demolished by Dec. 25, 2016.

Under pressure from his pro-settler partners from the faction of the Jewish Home, Netanyahu agreed to pass the controversial bill.

The bill aims at legalizing the outpost by allowing the government to expropriate the Palestinian land on which it was built.

Such a law is expected to trigger angry responses by the Palestinians and the international community, which consider the settlements, constructed on lands where the Palestinian wish to establish their future state, as a major obstacle to peace.

Amona, east of Ramallah city, is the largest among the so-called "unauthorized outposts," communities built by far-right Israelis without permits from the government. There are about 100 unauthorized outposts and 120 settlements that Israel considered legal. Endit