Israel legalises West Bank outpost

Israel has granted legal status to a previously unauthorised outpost in the occupied West Bank in response to a Palestinian shooting attack last month that killed one of its residents.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision to retroactively authorise the 50-family outpost of Havat Gilad was meant to “allow the continuation of normal life there”.

Most countries deem Israeli settlements in the West Bank, land that Israel captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians want for a future state, to be illegal. Israel disputes this.

The decision was approved unanimously by Israel’s cabinet on Sunday.

Palestinian officials condemned the move and said it seemed to be the result of a change in US policy toward Israel.

President Donald Trump in December recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, breaking with decades of US policy that the city’s status must be decided in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

 

Read the full article at The Australian.