Draft legislation passes preliminary reading after article that would have overturned the impending eviction of Amona outpost in Samaria is excluded – Left decries “annexation” – Human rights group: Palestinians won’t even be able to object to land grab.

By Gideon Allon, Mati Tuchfeld, Efrat Forsher and Yair Altman, ISRAEL HAYOM

Residents of Amona will be evicted, but other settlements will receive legal standing if the bill passes
The controversial outpost regulation bill passed its preliminary Knesset reading Monday, following an impassioned debate. The legislation proposal seeks to “regulate Israeli settlement in Judea and Samaria and allow it to continue to take root and develop,” by allowing the government to retroactively grant some contested outpost the necessary permits.

Earlier Monday, the Ministerial Committee on Legislation held a special meeting to approve a new draft of the bill, excluding its original Article 7, which referred specifically to the Samaria outpost of Amona, in which it is facing a court-ordered eviction on Dec. 25. The committee approved the bill over the objection of Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, who opposes any version of the bill, arguing that it is unconstitutional.

The bill passed its preliminary reading with a vote of 60 MKs in favor and 49 against.

Outpost bill passes preliminary Knesset reading

Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich introduced the legislation to parliament ahead of the vote. Repeatedly heckled by opposition MKs, Smotrich warned against the “tyranny and foolishness of the judiciary” and attacked MK Benny Begin (Likud), who is a vocal critic of the bill.

Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) called the bill a “deal” and characterized its passing as “a dark day for the government.”

On Tuesday, the bill was due to be presented for its first parliamentary reading.

The exclusion of Article 7, which would have allowed the residents of Amona to remain in their outpost despite the High Court-ordered eviction, saw the Kulanu faction drop its objection to the legislation. However, the left-wing group Peace Now argued that dropping Article 7 will pave the way to build another 4,000 housing units in Judea and Samaria, annex some 2,000 acres of Palestinian land, and grant legal standing to 55 illegal outposts.

Moreover, according to a Peace Now report published this week, should the outpost regulation bill pass, it will legalize over 3,900 structures built on privately owned Palestinian land, including both permanent structures and caravans. Some 3,125 of the buildings stand in official settlements and almost 800 are located in illegal outposts.

On Monday, Mendelblit announced that he opposed the revised version of the outpost regulation bill, as he thinks the new version still includes elements that circumvent the accepted procedures for regulating land in Judea and Samaria and legitimizing settlements built on privately owned land.

The attorney general argues that the new draft of the bill still goes against both Israeli and international law, and he would therefore be unable to defend it before the High Court of Justice. Nevertheless, Mendelblit is considering another appeal to the High …read more

Source:: Israpundit

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