Israel’s Expanding Settlement

Why in news?

Israel passed a legislation that would legalise nearly 4,000 Jewish settler homes on private Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

What are settlements?

• Settlements are communities established by Israel on land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.
• This includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
• Prior to that no Israeli citizens had lived in the territory.
• In 1968 Israeli government reluctantly allowed Jews to stay "temporarily."
• Since then hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews now reside in the West Bank, citing religion, history and Israel's security among their reasons for being there.
• There are 131 settlements in the West Bank, housing about 385,000 Israeli Jewish settlers, and 97 outposts - settlements built without official authorisation.
• Palestinians, along with the rest of the world, see their presence as one of the key obstacles to a peace agreement and the creation of a Palestinian state.
• Palestinians say the presence of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land they seek for a future state - make such a state with contiguous territory impossible.
• They have demanded Israel freeze all settlement activity as a precondition for resuming peace talks.

What is the legislation about?

• Despite international criticism, successive governments have supported the settlements.
• The legislation allows the Israeli government to confiscate private Palestinian land if the land-owners are unknown.
• If known, they will be compensated in cash or kind.

What will be the impact?

• The legislation seeks to extend Israeli law to the West Bank.
• It can be overturned by the judiciary.
• Israel’s Attorney-General has said he wouldn’t defend the bill in the high court as it is unconstitutional and violates international law.
• But this is unlikely to stop the current government from taking more Palestinian land.
• Earlier UN Security Council demanded that Israel stop all settlement activity in the Occupied Territories.
• An international conference attended by more than 70 countries urged both sides in the conflict to resume talks
• In this scenario, Israel’s legislation shows its disregard for international opinion and institutions.

What is the Israel’s stand?

• Israel still says it is committed to the two-state solution.
• But the two-state solution will not be relevant if it continues to grab Palestinian land.
• The current government has shown no interest in resuming negotiations.
• This is compounded by the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President, who also does not believe in two state solution.

Source: The Hindu