Israel approves controversial law on West Bank settlements

Israel has passed a controversial law to retroactively legalise some 3,800 settler homes that were illegally built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

The so-called regulation bill paves the way for Israel to recognize thousands of illegally built Jewish settle homes constructed on privately-owned Palestinian land in what opponents have criticised as a “theft” and “land grab”.

The law, which passed by 60 votes to 52, retroactively legalises the construction, with the original Palestinian landowners to be compensated with money or alternative land – even if they do not agree to give up their property.

It is the latest in a series of pro-settlement moves by Israel since the inauguration of Donald Trump, which has seen some 6,000 new Jewish settlement homes announced in occupied Palestinian territory in the past fortnight.

A minister from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party hailed the vote as a demonstration of "the connection between the Jewish people and its land. This whole land is ours. All of it."

However, the new legalisation has proved divisive within Israel, with Opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog denouncing it as "an acute danger to Israel" which could lead to prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

The ICC is currently examining whether Israeli settlements should be subject to a full investigation.

A spokesperson for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas warned the vote “would only lead to more instability and chaos”.

"It is unacceptable. It is denounced and the international community should act immediately," Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.

The UN Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, said the law would "greatly diminish the prospects for Arab-Israeli peace".

The White House said last week that it did not see settlements as an impediment to peace, although new settlements or expanding existing settlements beyond their borders "might not be helpful". However, it said it had not yet formed an official position on the settlements issue.

Trump is scheduled to meet Netanyahu in Washington next week for the first time since the US President took office last month.