TIMES OF ISRAEL
The true significance of Israel’s settlement legalization law
by Haviv Rettig Gur
February 7, 2017

Criticism of the Regulation Law that passed Monday in the Knesset has been visceral and widespread. It comes from Israeli politicians on the right, as well as on the deepest left; from pro-Israel advocates, and from Palestinian officials; from Israel’s own attorney general, as well as European and Muslim-world governments; and even from some Knesset members who actually voted for it. All seem to believe the law, which authorizes retroactively Israeli settlement homes built illegally on privately owned Palestinian land, is a watershed moment in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But with so many voices vying to explain precisely why it is so bad, it can be easy to miss, or to misunderstand, the indigenous Israeli political impulses that forged it, and thus to misrepresent what it means for Israel’s presence in the West Bank. READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM Judea and Samaria Settlement Regulation Law: Necessary and constitutional