Netanyahu: Settlements Can’t Come at Expense of Rule of Law
by JNS.org
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that his government would bolster the settlement enterprise, after successfully defeating a bill that would have bypassed a court order to evacuate 30 families from the Beit El neighborhood of Ulpana Hill.
Netanyahu, who said the so-called outpost arrangement bill would have inflicted irreparable harm on Israel and put it in legal jeopardy because it denied private Palestinian landowners their claim on their property, told his right-wing allies that constructing settlements should not come at the expense of the rule of law and said his plans to relocate the homes strikes the right balance between staying within the law and strengthening the settlement enterprise. The High Court of Justice ruled that the government must demolish the disputed buildings, situated in Beit El’s Ulpana neighborhood, by July 1, as they had been built on privately owned Palestinian land.