Dubai: Israel’s move to give legal status to its illegal colonies is a virtual go-ahead for stealing more Palestinian lands and represents the biggest theft of occupied lands in modern history, analysts and commentators have said.
“This is the most dangerous decision ever taken by Israel,” said West Bank-based political analyst Hani Al Masri.
“Not only does it mean all Palestinian land is now up for grabs, but it also makes our lives more and more difficult. This was expected from the current government — which is the most extreme in Israel’s history,” Al Masri told Gulf News.
And the move is also timed to take advantage of situations elsewhere in the Middle East by ensuring there would be little international condemnation. Palestinians are in a weak position, Arabs are busy with their own problems elsewhere, and the rest of the world is watching the transition of power to US President-elect Donald Trump.
What’s ironic, the analysts say, is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the right-wing Likud party, had earlier warned of the consequences of the bill on Israel. He then voted for the bill to purportedly save his Cabinet’s unity when it was initially put before the Knesset.
The bill will be voted on twice more but is expected to get full Knesset approval, if only because the survival of Netanyahu’s coalition government depends on it, said Ahmad Al Teibi, a member of the Knesset from among the Palestinians in 1948 areas. When the bill came before the Knesset on Monday night, Al Teibi and other colleagues ripped it up to register their protest at the unconstitutional move.
The bill, Al Teibi told Gulf News, “legalises stealing lands, and we say that this bill consolidates what we have been saying in the past: that the colonies are the biggest theft in modern history of lands from their original owners”.
Once the bill is adopted, “we will go to the Supreme Court to annul it, and there is a big chance that the Supreme Court will void it because it is unconstitutional,” he added.
Israel’s move is also expected to complicate the chances of any peaceful settlement to the Palestinian issue.
International law is consistent with Palestinian positions, but “international law doesn’t have the power to force the concerned parties to stick to it,” said Cairo-based veteran analyst Hassan Abu Taleb.
“Who will force Israel to comply with the ruling of international courts as long as there are superpowers that are taking into consideration Israeli views all along the way?” Abu Taleb told Gulf News.
Nearly six years ago, Palestinians demanded a halt to colonisation activities to resume peace talks with Israelis. The result was that the talks were halted but the colony activities continued unchecked.
“We are in a transitional phase,” Abu Taleb said, adding that, with Trump about to assume power, “different parties are trying to impose a new reality on the ground.”
“Israel is one of them,” he said. “Its views are closer to Trump and it’s trying to get more gains than it got from the previous eight years of the Obama presidency.”
