'Israel' repeals law that sanctioned four West Bank settlements
4 Min Read
The Israeli occupation makes a U-turn on a law adopted in 2005 to strip Palestinians of even more land by legalizing four settlements in the West Bank.
-
A general view of the illegal Israeli settlement of 'Efrat' in the occupied West Bank, occupied Palestine, January 30, 2023 (AP)
The Israeli Knesset on Tuesday rescinded legislation ordering the evacuation of four settlements in the occupied West Bank 18 years after it was passed.
The original law mandated the evacuation of four illegal Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank as well as "Tel Aviv's" disengagement from the Gaza Strip, marking one of the first major moves taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's highly controversial far-right cabinet.
The law being repealed would allow Israelis to return to the settlements in question on condition of approval by the Israeli occupation military.
The Israeli occupation has established some 140 settlements on UN-recognized Palestinian territory since the 1967 war of aggression at the hands of the government, and dozens of others at the hands of illegal Israeli settlers.
The majority of the world sees the Israeli occupation's settlements as illegal in accordance with international law and insists that their expansion is "an obstacle to peace."
The head of the Israeli Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Yuli Edelstein, hailed the move as "the first and significant step towards real repair and the establishment of Israel in the territories of the homeland that belongs to it."
This comes after the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority (PA) agreed during a security meeting in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh to establish a mechanism to "curb violence" and counter "inflammatory statements and actions."
Sharm El-Sheikh hosted a five-sided meeting between the PA, the Israeli occupation, Egypt, Jordan, and the United States aimed at "de-escalation" in the region.
It is noteworthy that the same provision was included in the concluding statement of the Aqaba meeting that was held by Jordan a couple of weeks ago. However, Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed that "the construction of settlement outposts in the West Bank will continue without any change."
On February 15, the Israeli occupation cabinet approved the construction of more than 7,000 illegal settler units in the occupied West Bank, with the Palestinian Information Center revealing the exact number of the planned units at 7,032.
Under international law, all Israeli settlements are illegal, and the United Nations Security Council has condemned Israeli settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in late February that Israeli-built settlements are "illegal" and they "must stop".
"All settlement activity is illegal under international law. And it must stop," Guterres told the UN members, adding that "At the same time, incitement to violence is a dead end. Nothing justifies terrorism. It must be rejected by all."
The Israeli occupation government announced a week earlier its decision to legalize nine illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank and initiate a project to build some 10,000 houses for illegal Israeli settlers on UN-recognized occupied Palestinian territories.
The Foreign Ministers of France, Italy, and Germany, and the Secretaries of State of the United States and the United Kingdom opposed "Tel Aviv's" plans to expand its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The United Nations Security Council expressed its "dismay" with the Israeli occupation government's plans to legalize settlements in occupied Palestinian territories. The UNSC issued a statement warning that these measures "impede peace".
The Israeli occupation was quick to criticize the declaration, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed it denied the "historic rights" of the Jewish people.
Furthermore, the occupation's premier's office said the statement "fails to mention the Palestinian terror attacks" that took place over the past few weeks in reference to the resistance operations that were conducted against illegal Israeli settlers in various places all over occupied Palestine.
According to the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting statement, the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli occupation reaffirmed their "commitment to all previous agreements between them, in particular, the legal right of the Palestinian National Authority to carry out the security responsibilities in Area (A) of the West Bank."
The Israeli occupation and the PA also agreed to "establish a mechanism to take the necessary steps towards improving the economic conditions of the Palestinian people, per previous agreements, and to significantly enhance the fiscal situation of the Palestinian National Authority."
