The bill was supported by Benjamin Netanyahu, but opponents said the law ‘makes theft an official Israeli policy’
Israel’s parliament has approved a controversial bill to retroactively “legalise” illegal Jewish outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land, setting up an inevitable confrontation with the international community.
The so-called regulation bill paves the way for Israel to recognise thousands of illegally built Jewish settler homes constructed on privately-owned Palestinian land in what opponents have dubbed a “theft” and “land grab”.
The law retroactively legalises the construction, with the original landowners to be compensated either with money or alternative land – even if they do not agree to give up their property.
The new law is the latest in a series of pro-settlement moves by Israel since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, which has seen some 6,000 new Jewish settlement homes announced in the occupied Palestinian territories in the past fortnight.
The international community overwhelmingly opposes settlements and sees them as an obstacle to peace.