Israel defends Palestinian land theft in court
Even after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said that the Regularization law is unlawful as it steals private Palestinian lands, Israel continues to defend it in court.
A US delegation led by presidential son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner visited Israel and the Palestinian Authority Aug. 23-25. This visit generated fear within the Israeli right-wing camp that President Donald Trump really intends to revive the about-to-die peace process with the Palestinians. But by the time the delegation was heading back to the airport on its way home, it was the peace camp’s last optimists who felt disappointed. Truth be told, anyone who consulted the report delivered Aug. 22 to members of the United Nations Security Council by Miroslav Jenca, the UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs, should have realized that things would unfold this way. It was clear that Kushner would go to Washington empty-handed.
In his briefing, Jenca pointed to Aug. 3 remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasting of his government’s singular achievements in advancing settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. “Such actions only fuel perceptions that those working to obstruct the two-state solution are gaining the upper hand,” Jenca warned, adding that settlements constitute a violation of international law and an obstacle to peace.
The state’s response Aug. 22 to a Supreme Court appeal against the so-called Regularization law reflects the true meaning of obstructing the two-state solution. This document is, in essence, an unconditional surrender to the radical right that makes a travesty of the two-state solution. It justifies expropriation of lands designated for the establishment of a Palestinian state for the establishment of Israeli settlements.
The state argues mainly that the recently adopted law allowing Jewish settlers to appropriate private Palestinian lands on which to build their homes constitutes “a humane, proportional and reasonable response to the genuine distress of Israeli residents,” whereas the current situation “relegates thousands of families to a life clouded by uncertainty.” An appendix to the state’s brief notes that at least 3,455 homes and public facilities have been built on private Palestinian land.
