Israeli parliament began discussions Monday on the final adoption of a bill retroactively legalizing thousands of settlements on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
The text has alarmed the international community and supporters of an independent Palestinian state.
It is expected to be voted on Tuesday, with adoption seen as likely.
The law would retroactively legalize at least 3,921 settlement units built in contravention of Israeli law, according to the anti-settlement organization Peace Now.
Israeli law distinguishes between settlements it considers legal and so-called “outposts”, but the bill would legalize a large number of the latter.
Under the bill Palestinian owners would be compensated financially or with land elsewhere.
The attorney general has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the bill would be illegal, according to media reports.
International law considers all Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, illegal.
Following Donald Trump’s inauguration, Netanyahu, who leads what is considered to be the most right-wing government in Israeli history, has green lighted thousands of new settlement homes in the West Bank and annexed East al-Quds (Jerusalem) .
Trump has indicated he will be far more supportive of Israeli settlement building than his predecessor Barack Obama.
The proposal debated Monday was approved by parliament for the first time in early December.
Source: AFP
