MK Smotrich: Seizing Palestinian property is for ‘the good of the public’

Joint List MK says settlement regulation bill closes path to a two-state solution.

By UDI SHAHAM, BEN LYNFIELD
Updated: FEBRUARY 1, 2017 01:36
Bezalel Smotrich. (photo credit: Courtesy/Regavim)
Bezalel Smotrich.
(photo credit: Courtesy/Regavim)
MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) on Tuesday defended the “settlement regulation bill” against Arab and left-wing criticism of it on moral grounds, saying that seizing Palestinian private property complies with democratic norms.
“Every democratic country confiscates property for the good of the public,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “The settlement activity (in the West Bank) is a public purpose, not a private purpose.”
On Tuesday the Knesset plenum started the discussion on the bill, which would retroactively legalize some 4,000 settler homes built on private Palestinian property in Area C of the West Bank. The chairman of the Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee, MK Nissan Slomiansky, presented the bill.
“The purpose of the bill is to help the settlements in Judaea and Samria that were built with encouragement of the state or in good faith, and were not aware that they are on private land.”
The opposition, that was given the whole night to voice its objection, sent only two lawmakers to speak. “We object this bill that is devastating for the State of Israel,” said MK Merav Michaeli. “The attorney general that the government appointed said it and even the prime minister himself said it.”
MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) said that the prime minister is being dragged after the extremists.
“He [the prime minister] said it himself – this bill will lead us to the [ICC in the] Hague.”
The two lawmakers have expressed their objection to the settlement made by the Knesset House Committee in which the opposition has limitations on time they have to present their objections. That is in order to prevent long filibusters.
A vote on the bill – which is expected to be passed on Monday – was delayed until after the hard-right Trump administration took power.
MK Masud Gnaim (Joint List) said the proposed legislation “comes to legitimize the theft of land of the Palestinians and is an opening to annexation of the rest of the territory in the West Bank. It will change everything, it will close up the path to the peace process and to any two state solution. There won’t be two states, there won’t be a solution.”
Smotrich responded that no theft would be carried out, because all settlements in the West Bank were built on empty land.
“Unlike [the war of] 1948, when villages were demolished and Jewish cities were built, no one settled in Judea and Samaria on a land that Palestinians lived on or even used for agriculture.” he said. “Because it was empty, people thought it was state land and started building there. By this bill we want to fix the injustice and make it legal. Palestinians that would be hurt from this would obviously be compensated.”
MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Bayit Yehudi) echoed the notion that the bill would not cause an injustice.
“I reject all the talking here about robbery, stealing and trying to rephrase the bible allegories [as if we are doing something wrong]. The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel,” he said. “We have never said otherwise. Again and again a right-wing government will advance the Right agenda and will rule in a right-wing way.
We were elected to the Knesset to promote what we believe in, not what Meretz, the Zionist Union, Yesh Atid and the Joint List believe in. The ‘settlements bill’ is an obligation of the rightwing government to regulate the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, 50 years after the great miracle of the Six Day War.”
Dror Etkes, director of Kerem Navot, an NGO that monitors land use in the West Bank, said the bill, if passed, would retroactively legalize many thousands of houses built on private property in hundreds of places.
These include not only settlement outposts but also established settlements that were built partly on private property, such as Beit El, Kochav Hashahar, Ofra, Eli, Ma’ale Michmash, and Kochav Ya’acov.
“Almost every settlement in the West Bank has parts that were built on private Palestinian property,” said Etkes, who formerly monitored settlements for the left-wing Peace Now organization.
“If you don’t understand that stealing property from people, especially people that cannot defend their rights because they are at the bottom of the food chain [is wrong], then you have a moral and personal problem,” he said.
Etkes also said the bill violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and could therefore expose politicians, army officers and settlers to prosecution at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
“This is heading to an escalation of the relations between Israel and the international community, at least parts of the international community that Israel wants to be respected by, namely Europe and sooner or later other countries,” he said.
“Assuming Trump won’t remain president forever, sooner or later it will put Israel in confrontation with important parts of North American politics as well.”
MK Haneen Zoabi (Joint List) termed the bill “an extreme example of Israel’s ongoing tradition of land theft.”
“This law is illegal by Israeli legal standards and probably will not pass the Supreme Court. Maybe that’s what Bibi and Lieberman expect and count on,” she said.
“Colonization of occupied territory is a crime according to international law. From the onset of colonialist Zionism, Israel has disregarded the just rights of the local original population, the Palestinians. However, Israel is bound by the Fourth Geneva Convention.”