As part of their coalition negotiations, Likud head Benjamin Netanyahu and Otzma Yehudit head Itamar Ben Gvir agreed on Wednesday to initiate several legal initiatives that would legalize dozens of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria. The towns included in the agreement are those classified as “young settlements” and were established without government authorization.
The initiatives are supposed to move forward within 60 days of the new government being sworn in. The new laws would change the 2005 Disengagement Law that led to the forcible relocation of some 9,000 Jewish residents of Gush Katif and northern Samaria. The law was controversial within the government and Israeli society leading to mass demonstrations. Intended as a pathway to renew the “Peace Process”, it opened the way for rocket attacks from Gaza targeting Israeli urban centers and the establishment of terrorist centers within Israel.
The agreement would legalize the Homesh and Evyatar settlements in Samaria that had been demolished by the Israeli government in 2005. Many attempts have been made to reestablish Homesh over the years but the IDF has prevented them despite a 2007 court ruling permitting Israelis to enter the site. After Yehudah Dimentman was murdered by Palestinian terrorists near Homesh in December 2021, there were increased calls by the Israeli public to open up Homesh to settlement.
They also agreed to change the law requiring a minimum sentence for agricultural crimes. Likud said they also agreed to accelerate the expansion of Route 60 which is the main north-south highway through Judea and Samaria by allocating $500 million for construction. The agreement also called for the building of bypass roads to enhance Israeli communities. The agreement would also lead to broadening an existing law that prevents criminal charges from being brought against someone using force to protect their home. The new law would also apply to anyone defending an IDF army base.
All of these agreements will need to pass a Knesset vote in order to be enacted.
In order to form a coalition, Netanyahu still has to come to terms with Bezalel Smotrich, the head of the Religious Zionist party which is allied with Otzma Yehudit. Smotrich is demanding either the Treasury or the Defense Ministry portfolio. Netanyahu reportedly is unwilling to assign him the post of Defense Minister.
Media reports claimed that the negotiations between Smotrich and Netanyahu became heated with Smotrich accusing Netanyahu of forming his government according to the wishes of the Biden administration.
“The Americans will decide who will be appointed minister? It’s not meant to work like that,” Smotrich reportedly told Netanyahu. He called for the US government to “respect Israeli democracy and not get involved in the formation of an elected government”.
A presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudaineh responded to the announcement of the coalition agreement, warning that allowing Jews to build communities in Judea and Samaria would be harmful to the two-state solution. He added that all Israeli settlements are “illegal” regardless of who is in power in Israel. “These understandings contradict all resolutions of international legitimacy and international law,” the PA official added.
This last statement has been contested by experts on international law.
Nearby Arab towns threatened violence targeting Jews who attempted to reestablish the communities.
“We don’t care what was agreed, the people of our town will resist the settlers’ presence,” Dr. Hutifa Badir from Beita, a village near Shechem and Evyatar, told the BBC.
“We arm ourselves with the blood of martyrs and the wounded. We’re committed to our land, and we will not give up on it whatever the cost.”
