Explained: Israel's Top Court Annulled West Bank Land-Grab Law, but Will Annexation Replace It?

Jun 13, 2020 | Hagar Shezaf
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Three years after it was passed, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that a law that would legalize the status of West Bank settlements built on privately-owned Palestinian land was unconstitutional. Why did the court do so, and what would the government do now? The “Law for the Regularization of Settlement in Judea and Samaria” was passed in February 2017. It was meant to retroactively allow the use of privately-owned Palestinian land to build Israeli settlements and to legalize outposts and structures erected on such land. The law, sponsored by former Habayit Hayehudi lawmaker Zevulun Orlev states its purpose is to “regulate the settlement in Judea and Samaria and to enable its continued establishment and development.”

In practice, the law enables expropriating land from Palestinians on which settlements and outposts have been built “in good faith,” according to the law, or with the encouragement of the government – and to transfer these lands to the state. In return, the Palestinians whose land was expropriated would receive alternative land or financial compensation worth 125 percent of the value of the property, which will be determined by an assessor. In cases of construction without a permit in settlements, the expropriation of the land may set in motion a planning process that could include issuing building permits retroactively.