West Bank settlements ‘are legal’

A GOVERNMENT-appointed Israeli committee has proposed granting official status to dozens of settler outposts in the West Bank, challenging the world view that Israeli settlement there is illegal.

The non-binding legal opinion yesterday, which prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sought, could be used by the right-wing leader to address criticism at home and abroad of his declared plans to build more homes for Jews on land Palestinians want for a state.

The panel, chaired by a former Israeli supreme court justice who has written pro-settlement opinions from the bench, reaffirmed Israel’s long-held view that the West Bank is not occupied territory and that settling Jews there is legal.

The opinion, yet to be formally accepted by the government, flies in the face of a World Court ruling that all settlements are illegal because of their location on occupied land.