The new Israeli parliament voted in its first reading on the application of Israeli criminal law to Jewish settlers in the West Bank. 58 MEPs voted in favor and 13 once morest on Monday night. It is the first draft law that the new government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has submitted to the Knesset for a vote. A second and third reading are still pending.
The law came into force following the 1967 Six-Day War and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, but must be re-ratified by Parliament every five years.
Under the previous government of Prime Minister Yair Lapid, to which left-wing parties and an Arab party also belonged, the extension by parliament failed because two MPs from the government camp voted once morest it. This contributed to the dissolution of Lapid’s governing alliance. The opposition, led by Netanyahu, voted once morest the law — not because of substantive concerns, but to harm Lapid’s government.
The new government said that Israel had ” once more started believing in our right to Israel’s entire land.” The Jewish settlements in the West Bank should be strengthened.
A good 2.9 million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank. Israeli military law applies to them. The approximately 475,000 Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territory have the same rights as Israeli citizens on Israeli territory. Netanyahu’s coalition government wants to continue building settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The construction of settlements is condemned by the United Nations as a violation of international law.
