Palestinians to approach ICC if Israel goes ahead with ‘land grab’

The Israeli legislation that aims to legalize Israeli outposts in the West Bank is the political decision of a rightwing government that aims to kill any chances of a two-state solution, Fatah International Media spokesman Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad told Arab News on Friday.
“The law will not only allow the building of more settlements but increase the number of Israeli settlers that are illegally residing on the Palestinian land in contravention to the stipulation of international law regarding lands under occupation,” he told Arab News.
“Such a decision will oblige the Palestinian Authority to go to the International Criminal Court and United Nations institutions to sue Israel for its crimes that are destroying any possibility to reach the two-states solution (to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict),” he said.
Outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged Israeli lawmakers to reconsider pressing forward the “settlement bill” that would legalize Israeli settlements on private Palestinian land in the West Bank.
“I strongly urge legislators to reconsider advancing this bill, which will have negative legal consequences for Israel and substantially diminish the chances for Arab-Israeli peace,” Ban told the UN Security Council during his final briefing on the Middle East.
Meshaal bin Faham Al-Sulami, speaker of the Arab Parliament, on Friday condemned the Israeli bill and said the Parliament condemns Israeli confiscation of the Palestinian land and the demolition of Palestinian homes.
“We strongly reject this bill which totally violates the international law and puts an obstacle on the path of peace. The Arab Parliament stands in solidarity with the Palestinians and will continue to defend the Palestinians' rights in the international arenas,” Al-Sulami said, calling on the international community to shoulder its responsibility and address the continued Israeli violations of the Palestinians’ rights.
Nabih Berri, chairman of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU), condemned the bill drafted in the Israeli Knesset, which intends to legitimize Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories.
The bill amounts to a blatant challenge to justice and constitutes new aggression against the Palestinian people, Berri said, calling on the international community to take action to “put an end to the Israeli arrogance.”
AIPU stands with the Palestinian people in face of the Israeli occupation, he affirmed, adding that the Knesset draft law would not change facts and the land will remain in the possession of its original owners.
Earlier this month, the Knesset approved, at a preliminary reading, the bill to build settlement outposts, including 4,000 residential units to be constructed on privately owned plots in the West Bank.
There is an intense debate in Israel over whether passing the bill to retroactively legalize certain unauthorized outposts built on private Palestinian land and grant financial compensation to the Palestinian owners is legal, and whether it would bring consequences from the international community, such as provoking the ICC.
The original text of the legislation covered the Amona outpost, which the Israeli High Court of Justice had ordered demolished by Dec. 25, but the proposed law has since been amended to not cover other outposts that the court had ordered dismantled.
In January 2015, the ICC started a preliminary examination of alleged war crimes in connection with the 2014 Gaza war (Operation Protective Edge) and the settlement enterprise, but it has not decided yet whether to open a full criminal investigation which top Israeli officials worry would have grave consequences.