fanger
Gold Member
Israel has passed a controversial law retroactively legalising 3,800 settler homes built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
More than 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land the Palestinians claim for a future state. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Palestinians say the new legislation negates peace and their chances of creating a state. However, its passage could be largely symbolic. Already Israel's attorney general has said the law is unconstitutional and that he will not defend it in the Supreme Court.
Opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog denounced the measure as "an acute danger to Israel" which could lead to prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.
The ICC is currently examining whether Israeli settlements should be subject to a full investigation.
A minister from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party championed the vote as a demonstration of "the connection between the Jewish people and its land. This whole land is ours. All of it."
Israel passes controversial law on West Bank settlements - BBC News
Pride goes before a fall
More than 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land the Palestinians claim for a future state. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Palestinians say the new legislation negates peace and their chances of creating a state. However, its passage could be largely symbolic. Already Israel's attorney general has said the law is unconstitutional and that he will not defend it in the Supreme Court.
Opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog denounced the measure as "an acute danger to Israel" which could lead to prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.
The ICC is currently examining whether Israeli settlements should be subject to a full investigation.
A minister from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party championed the vote as a demonstration of "the connection between the Jewish people and its land. This whole land is ours. All of it."
Israel passes controversial law on West Bank settlements - BBC News
Pride goes before a fall