Education Minister Naftali Bennett said on Wednesday that there was "no moral problem" for Israel to expropriate West Bank lands from Palestinians. Asked if a new bill which would legalize illegal settlement outposts contradicted Jewish values, Bennett responded that "there was no moral problem for the state" to appropriate privately owned lands "for a need it has identified" if it pays out compensation in return.

Israel's government has been shaken by the looming evacuation of the illegal outpost of Amona, built on private Palestinian land and condemned to demolition by Israel's top court. While some ministers and lawmakers on the right, including Bennett, hope to prevent the evacuation through legislation, others, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have joined legal officials in warning of its possible consequences for Israel.

Speaking at the Sderot Conference at the Sapir Academic College, Bennett said that "Amona is not the issue in Judea and Samaria," using the Biblical name for the West Bank. "The issue is the thousands of housing units who have the same [legal] status." Historically, he said, "when Israel wanted to establish communities, it expropriates private lands that's how it was in Carmiel, that's how it was in Jerusalem and for Judea and Samaria too."

Bennett added that "what we are trying to do in this regard is to include the rules that pertain to Israel to Judea and Samaria as well. This is why there is such a drama this has serious significance."

Political tensions

Open gallery view Settlers protest against the slated evacuation of Amona, an illegal West Bank outpost, in front of the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, November 11, 2016. Credit: Emil Salman

Israel's Security Cabinet convened Wednesday morning for over two hours to discuss the so-called Regularization Bill aimed at legalizing unauthorized settlement outposts.

Lawmakers were set to vote on two drafts of the measure, but the cabinet decided to postpone the vote to next Tuesday after the lengthy debate. One of the two drafts proposes to authorize enclaves retroactively to spare the West Bank settlement of Amona from evacuation, and one which would not. The votes were set to be held despite Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit’s opposition to the measure.

The security cabinet postponed a debate that had been scheduled for Tuesday about Amona until Wednesday morning after Netanyahu fell ill with the flu, but then postponed it again.

The High Court of Justice has ruled that Amona, built on private Palestinian lands, must be evacuated by December 25.

If approved, both measures would be debated by a special Knesset committee for a decision as to which should be put to a second or third vote so as to be passed into law.

Early Wednesday, the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee voted in favor, clearing the way for the vote in the plenum.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s party Kulanu opposes the so-called retroactive version.

A source in the hard-right Habayit Hayehudi said Kulanu has agreed to abide by coalition discipline with regard to both versions. But sources in Kulanu said “there is no new agreement on the issue,” and that the party objects to the bill. Kahlon’s spokesman declined to comment.