Israel's Netanyahu to Legalize West Bank Settler Outposts

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Facts

  • In a meeting on Wednesday, Israel's PM-elect Benjamin Netanyahu and right-wing parliament — Knesset — member Itamar Ben-Gvir agreed to legalize dozens of illegal settler outposts in the West Bank.
  • Netanyahu is currently assigned with forming a new Israeli government after his coalition won elections earlier this month. The pledge — which would need to pass a vote in parliament to be implemented — would retroactively legalize the outposts within 60 days of swearing in of the government.
  • Israeli settlements — Jewish-only housing complexes on Palestinian land — are illegal under international law. Israel, however, only considers outposts — which it says were built by individuals, not the government — unlawful. There are reportedly at least 250 illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which house more than 700k Israeli settlers.
  • The Palestinian Authority has called on the international community and the Biden administration to pressure Netanyahu to scrap the agreement, saying that its terms sabotage any future peace negotiations of a two-state solution.
  • The deal between Netanyahu's Likud party and Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power bloc would also provide infrastructure to several currently illegal settlements, with a total of $500M allocated for settler bypass roads and the expansion of Highway 60 — the primary route used between settlements in the West Bank.
  • If passed, the plan would legalize outposts in Homesh, a controversial settlement evacuated in 2005, marking an amendment to the Disengagement Law, which saw the evacuation of all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Sources: Al Jazeera, Times of Israel, BBC News, and Haaretz.

Narratives

  • Pro-Palestine, as provided by Middle East Eye. Netanyahu and Ben Gvir's agreement violates international law and undermines any possibility of achieving peace in the region. Once again, Israel is violating previous agreements on borders and invading Palestinian land.
  • Pro-Israel, as provided by Jerusalem Post. Legalizing the young outposts in the West Bank is a step in the right direction to supporting and protecting the Israeli settlers who live in the area. Terror attacks are a real threat in the region, and improved infrastructure and legitimization from the Israeli government will help to keep these settlers safe.