The Israeli Parliament voted in the night from Monday to Tuesday in first reading a bill aimed at renewing the extension of Israeli criminal law to settlers living in the occupied West Bank.
This is the first bill submitted to the vote of elected officials by the new government, the most right-wing in the history of Israel, since its inauguration on December 29 under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We have started to believe again in our right to the whole land of Israel and are back to strengthening Jewish settlements” in the West Bank, he added.
In force since the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, this law, which stipulates that some 475,000 settlers in the West Bank enjoy the same rights as citizens living on the territory of Israel, is ratified every five years by Parliament.
The West Bank, where more than 2.9 million Palestinians live, is subject to Israeli military law.
The law was to be renewed before June 30, but two deputies from the former government coalition, made up of right-wing, centre-left and left-wing parties and an Arab party, voted against it, contributing to the division of the government led by the centrist Yair Lapid and his downfall.
The opposition, then led by Mr. Netanyahu and made up of pro-settler parties, had announced that it would vote against this project simply to show its distrust of the government.
Winner of the November 1 legislative elections, Mr. Netanyahu, charged with corruption, formed his government with far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, some of whose tenors have been appointed to key positions.
The new ministerial team has already announced its intention to continue colonization in the Occupied Territories, condemned by the UN as illegal under international law.
Fifty-eight deputies voted for the bill on “emergency measures in Judea and Samaria” (name given by Israel to the West Bank), and 13 against. The text still has to go through second and third reading to be adopted.