Navigating troubled waters

The controversial legislation passed by the Knesset (Israel's parliament) that would retroactively legalise Jewish settlement on privately owned Palestinian land diminishes the prospect of two–state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The legislation passed last week by 60-52 votes, seen in the Arab world as an "Israeli land grab law," has been internationally condemned, and has also been attacked by some Israeli politicians, NGOs, and legal experts, including the Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit. He has warned the government that the law may be unconstitutional and risks exposing Israel to international prosecution for war crimes. It also violated Palestinian property rights and marked an unprecedented step toward formal annexation of the West Bank, which has been under Israeli military occupation since the 1967 six-day war. "The Parliament is legislating a danger for the state of Israel. It's legislating a de facto annexation, contrary to all of Israel's international commitments," chairman of the parliamentary opposition Isaac Herzog was quoted as saying before the vote.

The law allows 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. Palestinian owners will be compensated financially or with other lands. It would apply to some 53 outposts as well as houses within existing settlements, potentially legalising more than 3,800 homes, according to anti-settlement NGO, Peace Now, which termed the law as "another step towards annexation and away from a two-state solution."The law could still be challenged and could be struck down by Israel's Supreme Court as it runs counter to almost 40 years of judicial rulings against the construction of homes on private Palestinian property.

International law considers all settlements illegal, but Israel distinguishes between those it sanctions and those it does not, which are known as outposts.

Separately to the new law, Israel has also approved more than 6,000 settler units in the Palestinian land since last month. The new law comes in the backdrop of a series of recent pro-settlement moves by Israel. More than six lakh Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem—land the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Anat Ben Nun, Director of external relations for Peace Now, an anti-settlement group in Israel, said the law was "deteriorating Israel's democracy and bringing us one step closer to annexation" of more land that Palestinians claim for a future state. Leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote that the "law crosses a line Israel has never violated before." Even Israel's opposition leader Isaac Herzog described the legislation as "de facto annexation" and said, "our opposition to the law stems from our opposition to annexation."

Furious Palestinians have described it as the "land grab law" which negates peace and the possibility of the two-state solution, while the Arab League accuses Israel of "stealing the land" of Palestinians. The United Nations, Britain, France, Jordan, and Turkey were among those coming out against the legislation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in the UK when the bill was passed, is said to have been not too keen initially on backing it but changed his stand subsequently. He had reportedly told his ministers he feared such a law would lead the country to the dock of the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Analysts say Netanyahu is under pressure from hardliners on the right and corruption investigations that even his supporters say appear serious. That pressure intensifies recently after his government carried out a court order to evacuate about 40 settler families at an outpost in Amona, which was declared illegal a decade ago. Netanyahu is meeting US President Donald Trump in White House on Wednesday when the whole gamut of Middle East situation including the Israeli settlement expansion is likely to come up. Setting the tone of the meeting, Trump in an interview with Israeli daily Israel Hayom, published last Friday said he was not someone who believed that advancing settlement was good for peace.

"We are looking at all different kinds of options, he said, reflecting a change in his tack on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly on the issues of settlement expansion, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and promoting peace. About shifting the US embassy to Jerusalem as announced by him during his election campaign, Trump told the paper that he was studying the issue and that "it's not an easy decision." The change in Trump's thinking on the Palestinian cause appeared to come after his meeting in Washington with Jordan's King Abdullah last week and his engagements with Arab leaders. Jordan has warned about moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, calling it a "red line" that would "inflame the Islamic and Arab streets" and serve as a "gift to extremists."

White House, which was silent on the Israeli new law, in a statement after the meeting between Trump and Abdullah called the new settlement activity "unhelpful".

Trump's apparent shift signals "a growing understanding of the complexities surrounding these issues" Ghaith Al-Omari, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy was quoted as saying by Arab News. The apparent softening in Trump's position on these issues seems to suggest a realistic approach from him—although, still do not give a clear indication of resuming the peace process.

The Palestinian national cause has never seen a more surreal and bizarre period as the one it finds itself ensnared in today. One can describe the plight of the Palestinian people as an ongoing case of 'brash abandonment' by the global powers. No other nation has been made to suffer for so long. They have paid a high price for historical injustice while also enduring the longest occupation in the modern era. With the Arab world so divided and in turmoil and with EU members going through an existential crisis, the Palestinian voice is slowly being muffled. Hence any Pro-Netanyahu approach by Trump will not provide a workable alternative to the nearly defunct two–state solution.