Jerusalem: The Israeli Parliament passed a contentious law late on Monday that allows the state to seize land privately owned by Palestinians in the West Bank and grant the properties to Jewish settlements for their exclusive use.

The measure is designed to protect homes in Jewish settlements, built on private Palestinian property "in good faith or at the state's instruction" from possible court-ordered evacuation and demolition.

It comes in the wake of a court-ordered forced eviction last week of 40 families living in the Amona settlement. Lawyers with the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din ("There is Law") successfully argued that the land was owned by Palestinians in the nearby village of Silwad.

The Amona settlers said God had promised the land to the Jews and denied the Arab claims. The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the settlement demolished. It took 3000 police to clear the isolated hilltop of radical youth, who threw excrement, bleach and rocks at the officers.