Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Israeli Parliament Votes to Retroactively Legalize West Bank Settlements

The Israeli parliament voted late Monday to retroactively legalize several thousand Jewish homes built in the West Bank, a move that could complicate what had seemed to be a warming relationship with the United States.

But the measure still faces steep obstacles, including legal challenges that could land it before Israel's Supreme Court, where the attorney general has said he will not argue in defense of it.

Monday's contentious vote took place after Israel said it had started demolishing a small Jewish settlement deemed illegal by the Supreme Court because it was on private Palestinian land. Settlers and their supporters had been pushing the new legislation as a way to avoid similar rulings in other unauthorized communities built in occupied territory. But critics say the measure is illegal and would make peace with the Palestinians even more difficult. 

Click here for the full article. 

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