US Jewish advocacy group urges Knesset to reject outpost bill

Ahead of the final Knesset votes on a bill allowing Israel to appropriate privately owned Palestinian land in the West Bank, the American Jewish Committee has called on Israeli lawmakers to reject the contentious legislation.

The so-called Regulation Bill had been slated to go for its final readings on Monday, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday reportedly requested from coalition heads it be delayed until after his meeting with US President Donald Trump next week.

In a statement, the AJC reaffirmed its longstanding support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying it was “the only realistic resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” as an alternative one-state reality would be “simply untenable” and “an abrogation of the Zionist ideal of a Jewish and democratic state.”

The AJC also cautioned that “construction and the reclassification of outposts beyond the security barrier, and thus not anticipated to remain with Israel as a result of negotiated ‘territorial swaps,’ are not conducive to advancing prospects for peace.”

The Regulation Bill would legalize several thousand homes in Israeli settlements in the West Bank built illegally on privately owned Palestinian property, offering financial compensation to the landowners and staving off any further evacuations such as the one carried out at the illegal Amona outpost last week.

In recent months, the legislation has been pushed by right-wing lawmakers, in part to offset the political fallout from the Amona evacuation.

If it passes its second and third readings, the proposal would legalize several thousand settlement homes that were unknowingly built on privately owned Palestinian land.

The bill would freeze demolition proceedings against the homes. For any homes found to have been built in good faith – that is, owners did not know the house was built on privately owned land before building there – the state would be required to seize the property from its Palestinian owners in exchange for compensation valued at slightly more than the land’s market value, as determined by an Israeli government committee established for that purpose.

The left-wing NGO Peace Now has estimated some 4,000 homes would be affected by the bill, while right-wing counterpart Regavim has put the number at about half that figure.

Netanyahu has expressed support for the bill, saying it would protect the settlement movement from “harassment” from lawsuit.

The bill has faced strident opposition, including from Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who has warned that it marks the first time Israeli legislation explicitly affirms government support for settlements, and would openly curtail property rights of Palestinians in the West Bank in a way that contravenes the protections granted to occupied populations under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

While Israel has always disputed the contention of nearly the entire international community that the territory of the West Bank is under occupation, it has agreed to apply to Palestinians living there the protections given to occupied people in the Convention. To weaken those protections, Mandelblit has warned, could expose Israeli officials to international sanction at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The Regulation Bill was narrowly approved by a vote of seven to six in a joint meeting of the Knesset’s Law Committee and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last week.

The legislation — shelved late last year after Netanyahu reportedly sought to avoid any additional fights with the Obama administration before its end on January 20 — returned to the Knesset agenda last Sunday.

While the Trump administration has mostly declined to condemn settlement building, the president has reportedly asked Netanyahu not to surprise him with unilateral moves in the West Bank and the issue is expected to be high on the agenda when the two meet in the White House on February 15.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said new settlements “may not be helpful,” after Netanyahu announced he would authorize a new settlement to replace Amona, the first in the West Bank in some 25 years.