The Israeli Parliament by a majority of votes passed in the second and third readings of the bill legalizing the structure, built on the lands of Palestinian Arabs, writes The Jerusalem Post.
Voted for the bill 60 Knesset members against 52. One of the initiators of the law Bezalel Smotrich of the party “Bayt Yehudi” called the day of the vote historic.
“This is a historic day for communities and for the state of Israel. On this day the state of Israel decided that the construction and promotion of settlements in Judea and Samaria is in the interests of Israel. From now on, we will continue to apply our sovereignty and to build settlements all over our land,” said Smotrich.
At the same time, one of the leaders of the opposition Isaac Herzog called the act a “de facto annexation”. “We only have a few minutes that would stop this dreadful train, which leaves from here and stops in the Hague,” he concluded.
According to the adopted bill, the government will not destroy the Jewish settlements that were built on land belonging to the Palestinian Arabs. However, the provisions of this act, applies only to the towns created was created at the initiative of the state. The structure, built as a private initiative of settlers, the law does not apply. Besides, we are talking about existing settlements under the act are not subject to the settlements, which will be built in the future.
