ON FEBRUARY 6th Israel aimed a nasty blow at what remains of its peace process with the nearly 5m Palestinians who live in the territories it seized 50 years ago. Its coalition government, led by Binyamin Netanyahu, voted a bill through the Knesset which allows, in certain circumstances, for the legalisation of Jewish construction on privately owned Palestinian land. One effect could be that around 50 “outposts”, scattered around the West Bank and illegal under Israeli law, will now be safe from the threat of demolition.

Condemnation quickly flowed in from around the world—not just from among the 138 countries that recognise Palestine as a state, but from many that do not, including Britain, France and Germany, Israel’s most reliable friends outside America (which stayed silent). Germany’s government said that the move “disappointed many in Germany who have deep ties to Israel and who have stood by it”.

The new law may yet be struck down as unconstitutional by Israel’s fiercely independent courts. Even if it is not, the number of housing units likely to be affected is relatively small (around 4,000). Proper compensation must be paid to the Palestinian landowners. And the bar that has to be met for what the bill euphemistically calls “regularisation” is fairly high: settlers will have to convince the courts that they did not know the land was privately owned. Nonetheless, the law creates a new pothole in the road to peace, for two reasons.

First, all settlements and outposts are obstacles that must be dealt with if there is to be a peace deal (see article). In particular, those outside the “separation barrier” that Israel has been building since 2002 and which would broadly serve as the border if there were an agreement, make things considerably harder. Many of the outposts the new law will affect are deep in the West Bank, and add to the number of committed settlers who would have to be moved after any deal. Freed from the threat of demolition by the authorities, those outposts are only likely to expand.

Second, the law’s passage through parliament is a sign that the political position of Mr Netanyahu is weakening, while those to his right are gaining ground. Although he has admitted that the law is unhelpful, dangerous even, since it exposes Israel to possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court, he felt obliged to push it through. That was the demand of the main settler-supporting party, Jewish Home, on which Mr Netanyahu depends to keep his coalition in power. Mr Netanyahu, who is fighting off corruption allegations, dared not risk a showdown with the party’s leader, Naftali Bennett. The danger is that an emboldened Mr Bennett will now proceed to his planned next step, the progressive annexation of bits of the West Bank (he wants 61% of it). He and his settlers hope that the election of Donald Trump means America will no longer stand in their way. Last month a group of settler leaders gleefully flew to Washington to see Mr Trump sworn in.

Down to Mr Trump

They may have cheered too soon. Plans to move the American embassy to Jerusalem are being reviewed; last week Mr Trump’s spokesman said that creating and expanding settlements “may not be helpful”. Mr Trump has said he wants to make peace in the Middle East. If he is serious, he needs to tell Mr Netanyahu when he visits next week that America still stands behind the “two-state solution”: the creation and recognition of a workable Palestinian state alongside a secure Jewish one. And he must stress that both building outside the barrier and unilateral annexation are dangerous impediments to what he calls the “ultimate deal”.