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Israeli parliament moves forward bill to expropriate private Palestinian lands

Xinhua, December 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Israeli parliament on Monday night gave preliminary approval to a bill to allow the State to expropriate private Palestinian lands in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The controversial legislation passed its first hurdle with a 60-49 vote but still needs to be voted in three more readings in the 120-member parliament.

A previous version of the bill passed a preliminary reading last month.

It triggered international criticism while its main supporter, Education Minister Naftali Bennet, hailing it as a first step towards an annexation of the West Bank.

The bill was the result of a compromise between the ruling coalition's far-right party of the Jewish Home, and the center-right Kulanu party.

The new version excluded a clause which would have allowed the government to legalize the unauthorized outpost of Amona retroactively.

Under the new bill, the ownership of private Palestinian lands would remain Palestinian, but the State of Israel could expropriate the right to use the land.

The law would apply to settlements that the government involved in their construction, and not to outposts that the government did not approve. Israel would financially compensate Palestinian landowners, "after they had proved their ownership over the land," the bill read.

The next vote on the bill was scheduled for Wednesday.

The bill is expected to draw condemnations internationally, with Israeli opposition leaders already warning that it contradicts international law.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said the law might not be constitutional, according to a report in the Times of Israel.

The bill is part of a political crisis that threatens Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition over a demand by the pro-settler Jewish Home to retroactively legalize Amona.

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 additional 120 settlements that Israel considers legal.

Both outposts and settlements are illegal under international law as they were built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War. Endit