Cairo — The Arab League accused Israel on Tuesday of “stealing the land” of Palestinians after the Israeli parliament passed a law legalizing dozens of Jewish outposts in the occupied West Bank.
“The law in question is only a cover for stealing the land and appropriating the property of Palestinians,” said the head of the Cairo-based League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also condemned the law, adopted late Monday, which will allow Israel to legally seize Palestinian private land on which Israelis built outposts without knowing it was private property or because the state allowed them to do so.
The law is a continuation of “Israeli policies aimed at eliminating any possibility of a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Aboul Gheit said.
Jordan and Turkey denounced what it called a provocative law likely to kill any hope of a two-state solution.
The parliamentary approval could “lead the region into further violence and torpedo any peace effort,” Jordanian Information Minister Mohamed Momani said, quoted by the official news agency Petra. “We strongly condemn Israeli Parliament’s adoption of a law that gives approval to various settlements consisting of 4,000 units built on the private property of the Palestinians,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the “unacceptable” Israeli policy contradicted UN Security Council resolutions and was “destroying the basis for the two-state solution”.
A Palestinian Cabinet minister called on the international community to punish Israel for the contentious new law.
“Nobody can legalize the theft of the Palestinian land. Building settlements is a crime, building settlements is against all international laws,” said Palestinian Tourism and Antiquities Minister Rula Maayaa.
“I think it is time now for the international community to act concretely to stop the Israelis from these crimes.”
Israeli Cabinet minister Ofir Akunis said during a stormy debate ahead of the vote that the lawmakers were voting “on the connection between the Jewish people and its land.” “This whole land is ours. All of it,” he said.
The vote passed 60-52 in Israel’s 120-member Knesset.
The White House’s immediate response was to refer to its statement last week that said the construction of new settlements “may not be helpful” in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace. The State Department later said “the Trump administration will withhold comment on the legislation until the relevant court ruling.”
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the law “unacceptable” and urged the international community to act immediately. “This is an escalation that would only lead to more instability and chaos,” he said.
Before the law passed, the UN Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, called on lawmakers to vote against the law, saying that “it will have far-reaching legal consequences for Israel and greatly diminish the prospects for Arab-Israeli peace.”
