Israeli govt panel: Settler outposts should be formalized

A government-appointed committee proposed on Monday granting official status to dozens of unauthorized settler outposts in the West Bank and challenged the world view that Israeli settlement there is illegal. The non-binding legal opinion, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sought, could be used by the right-wing leader to address criticism at home and abroad of his declared plans to build more homes for Jews on occupied Palestinian land. Three months ago, his governing coalition drew Palestinian and international condemnation when it retroactively gave Israeli legal sanction three West Bank outposts built without official approval. But the panel, chaired by a former Israeli Supreme Court justice who has written pro-settlement opinions from the bench, reaffirmed Israel's long-held stance that the West Bank is not occupied territory and settling Jews there is legal. The opinion, yet to be formally accepted by the government, flew in the face of the World Court ruling that all settlements are illegal because of their location on occupied land. The Israeli committee disputed that ruling and international consensus, arguing Israel's control of the West Bank does not constitute occupation as no country was sovereign over the territory when it was captured from Jordan in a 1967 war. "Therefore, according to international law, Israelis have the legal right to settle in Judea and Samaria and the establishment of settlements cannot, in and of itself, be considered to be illegal," it said, using the Biblical names for the West Bank. Israel has built some 120 settlements in the West Bank. The settlements eat into Palestinian communities, and officials say their continual expansion is ending the possibility of a contiguous independent Palestine. "All settlements are illegal according to international law and international resolutions," Nabil Abu Rdeineh, a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, said of the committee's report. "The Israeli government must cease settlement activity and curb settler attacks and adhere to international resolutions if it wants to achieve peace," Abu Rdeineh added. Dozens of officially unauthorized outposts, which past Israeli governments had pledged to remove, have also gone up in the territory. Addressing the issue of unsanctioned settlement outposts, the committee echoed a 2005 government report in determining they had been established "with the knowledge, encouragement and tacit agreement of the most senior political level." But unlike the 2005 document, which said quiet government support and funding for unauthorized settlements were illegal, the new report recommended expanding them. The time had come, it said, to complete formal "planning and zoning procedures" and set the "municipal jurisdiction" of each outpost, taking into consideration their growing populations. "Pending completion of those proceedings and examination of the possibility of granting valid building permits, the state is advised to avoid carrying out demolition orders," the panel said. Yariv Oppenheimer of the anti-settlement group Peace Now said the panel had "delivered the goods" for the Israeli right. "The legal world is a wonderful one, just choose a position and you will always be able to find a legal expert who can defend it," he said on Army Radio. "The committee has forgotten that there are 2.5 million stateless Palestinians under Israeli military rule."