Israeli settlement legalization law unlikely to stand – Expert

A recently passed law that legalizes settlements in the West Bank discriminates against Palestinians and will not stand before the Supreme Court, an Israeli legal expert said Tuesday. The law passed Monday night violates basic rights, interferes with property rights and is discriminatory because it regulates only the transfer of land from Palestinians to Jews, […]

A recently passed law that legalizes settlements in the West Bank discriminates against Palestinians and will not stand before the Supreme Court, an Israeli legal expert said Tuesday.

The law passed Monday night violates basic rights, interferes with property rights and is discriminatory because it regulates only the transfer of land from Palestinians to Jews, said Yuval Shany, an international law professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Anat Ben Nun, from the Israeli campaign group Peace Now, shared Shany’s sentiments on Tuesday, predicting that a petition to the Supreme Court to halt the law that her group and several others plan to submit would have a strong chance at halting its implementation.

Israel’s own attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit, has repeatedly vowed that he would not defend the law, which passed with 60 of the Knesset’s 120 members voting in favour of it and 52 against.

"When you read that the attorney general said it’s unconstitutional law, its chances of being disqualified are 100 per cent," Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said last month before the vote.

Saeb Erekat, a high-ranking official with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, was quick to slam the law Monday night as "another affirmation by the Israeli government for the Israeli settlers and occupation forces to continue their attacks" against Palestinians.

The US administration under President Donald Trump, whose perceived support for settlements has emboldened members of the Israeli government’s right wing, has yet to issue a statement on the law. (DPA)