Days after the settlement outpost of Amona was evacuated by order of Israel’s High Court of Justice, the Knesset passed legislation to retroactively legalize all settlement housing sitting on property that has been identified as private Palestinian land. The law is being hailed by supporters of the settlement movement as a step toward extending full Israeli sovereignty over the disputed territories, while opponents have called the law a “land grab” that violates international law. Yet several leading legal scholars say the “Regulation Law” does not contradict Israeli law, and that precedents both inside and outside Israel can justify its passage within the context of international law. “I wouldn’t call it a land grab,” Alan Baker, a former legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry and Israel’s former ambassador to Canada. “These people have been already living where they are living for many years. The opposition to this law is more of a political issue.”
Source: Israel’s Regulation Law: ‘land grab’ or just politics? — JNS.org
