AFP , Jerusalem :
Israel faced international criticism on Tuesday over a new law allowing the appropriation of private Palestinian land for Jewish settler outposts, although the United States remained notably silent.
Britain, France, the United Nations and Israel’s neighbour Jordan were among those coming out against the legislation passed late on Monday.
The law legalises dozens of wildcat outposts and thousands of settler homes in the occupied West Bank and prompted a call by the Palestinians for the international community to punish Israel.
Pro-Palestinian Israeli NGOs said they would ask the Supreme Court to strike down the law, while Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog warned the legislation could result in Israeli officials facing the International Criminal Court.
France called the bill a “new attack on the two-state solution,” while Britain said it “damages Israel’s standing with its international partners”.
Turkey “strongly condemned” the law and Israel’s “unacceptable” settlement policy and the Arab League accused Israel of “stealing the land and appropriating the property of Palestinians.”
UN envoy for the Middle East peace process Nickolay Mladenov said the bill crossed a “thick red line” towards annexation of the West Bank – the largest part of the Palestinian territories. “[The law] opens the potential for the full annexation of the West Bank and therefore undermines substantially the two-state solution,” he said.
Israel faced international criticism on Tuesday over a new law allowing the appropriation of private Palestinian land for Jewish settler outposts, although the United States remained notably silent.
Britain, France, the United Nations and Israel’s neighbour Jordan were among those coming out against the legislation passed late on Monday.
The law legalises dozens of wildcat outposts and thousands of settler homes in the occupied West Bank and prompted a call by the Palestinians for the international community to punish Israel.
Pro-Palestinian Israeli NGOs said they would ask the Supreme Court to strike down the law, while Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog warned the legislation could result in Israeli officials facing the International Criminal Court.
France called the bill a “new attack on the two-state solution,” while Britain said it “damages Israel’s standing with its international partners”.
Turkey “strongly condemned” the law and Israel’s “unacceptable” settlement policy and the Arab League accused Israel of “stealing the land and appropriating the property of Palestinians.”
UN envoy for the Middle East peace process Nickolay Mladenov said the bill crossed a “thick red line” towards annexation of the West Bank – the largest part of the Palestinian territories. “[The law] opens the potential for the full annexation of the West Bank and therefore undermines substantially the two-state solution,” he said.
