Netanyahu torpedoes bill forcing hand on Beit El settlement construction

MK Bezalel Smotrich, who introduced the legislation, says move proves PM, not US, is behind alleged West Bank building freeze

By Jacob Magid

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6 July 2017, 12:53 am

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Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked Wednesday an upcoming ministerial vote on controversial legislation that would mandate extensive construction in the West Bank settlement of Beit El.

Introduced by Knesset members Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) and Yoav Kisch (Likud), the bill known as the “Beit El Law,” would have required the government to keep a promise made by Netanyahu five years ago to build 300 housing units in the settlement.

According to the legislation, any pledges to build settlement homes in place of ones demolished by the government would be legally binding, “regardless of political considerations.”

The prime minister made the public pledge in 2012 following the destruction of five homes in Beit El’s Givat Ulpana neighborhood. The High Court of Justice had ordered the demolition of the buildings due to their construction on private Palestinian land.

In this June 4, 2012 file photo, Jewish settlers march during a demonstration against the proposed decision to evacuate a West Bank outpost in the Ulpana neighborhood, in the West Bank settlement of Beit El. (photo credit: AP/Ariel Schalit, File)

In what opponents of the decision described as a “veto” by the prime minister, Netanyahu instructed coalition chairman David Bitan (Likud) to immediately remove the proposal from Sunday’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation’s agenda, according to Hebrew media reports.

Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich attends a committee meeting regarding the so-called Regulation Bill, which is designed to avert the court-ordered demolition of the West Bank outpost of Amona by December 25, on November 28, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Responding to the decision, Smotrich said Netanyahu’s conduct was “undemocratic.”

“The prime minister’s activity in thwarting the law and construction demonstrates that the freeze on planning and building [in the West Bank] is his own initiative and not the result of American pressure,” Smotrich said in a statement.

Beit El Mayor Shai Alon also criticized the move, arguing that “if the prime minister really intended to give the long-awaited approval for building in Beit El, he would not be trying to torpedo it constantly.”

Beit El Mayor Shai Alon during a press conference at the protest tent in front of the rime minister's office in Jerusalem on June 25, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) — Beit El Mayor Shai Alon during a press conference at the protest tent in front of the rime minister’s office in Jerusalem on June 25, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

However, the mayor also recognized growing support among right wing lawmakers for the building in his settlement to move forward, and added that he hoped approval of the expansion plan would be finalized so that there is no longer a need for such legislation.

On June 22, Netanyahu met with Alon and told him his office would approve in September the next stage of an expansion project for the pledged homes, according to a statement from the Beit El municipality.

Netanyahu and Alon’s June sit-down followed a public spat in which the Beit El mayor accused the prime minister of lying to him about an inability to garner construction permits for the 300 units.