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<h1 id="reader-title">PHROC Calls for Immediate Action by
International Community on Israel’s “Regularization” Law</h1>
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<div class="content clearfix"><span
class="date-display-single">09
February 2017</span><span
class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32
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id="da2a_1"> </span>
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<p class="rtejustify"><span>The
Palestinian Human Rights
Organizations Council
(PHROC) strongly condemns
the Israeli Knesset’s
passage of the
“Regularization Law,” which
legalizes 4,000 housing
units in 55 colonial
outposts, built on private
Palestinian land. While
Israel’s appropriation of
Palestinian land has been a
cornerstone of government
policy since the beginning
of the occupation in 1967,
the law is another brazen
tool for Israel to
confiscate privately held
and registered Palestinian
property for its illegal
settlement enterprise.</span></p>
<p class="rtejustify">Members of
Israel’s governing Likud
party, including Miri Regev,
Israel’s Culture and Sport
Minister, stated that the
passage of the law was “a
historic move” toward annexing
the West Bank. She stated,
“[t]his is the first step
towards complete regulation,
namely, applying Israeli
sovereignty over Judea and
Samaria.”<a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftn1"
name="_ftnref1" title=""
id="_ftnref1">[1]</a> Before
the bill was passed into law,
Naftali Bennett, leader of the
Jewish Home (HabayitHayehudi)
party and Israel’s Education
Minister, considered it as
"[a] first step away from the
two-state solution towards
annexing the West Bank and
practicing sovereignty over
land but not its inhabitants."<a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftn2"
name="_ftnref2" title=""
id="_ftnref2">[2]</a> The
Jewish Home party has also
introduced another
controversial bill that would
annex the illegal colonial
bloc of Ma’aleAdumim and the
area referred to as E1, which
is currently home to over
8,000 Bedouins who are under
threat of forced transfer.<a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftn3"
name="_ftnref3" title=""
id="_ftnref3">[3]</a> Such
statements and actions reflect
Israel’s overarching and
systematic policies aimed at
colonizing and illegally
annexing the Occupied
Palestinian territory (OPT),
in violation of international
law.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">This law
comes after the United Nations
Security Council passed
Resolution 2334 (2106),
reiterating that the
establishment of settlements
by Israel in the OPT,
including East Jerusalem, “has
no legal validity and
constitutes a flagrant
violation of international
law.” The Resolution also
called upon Israel to
“immediately and completely
cease all settlement
activities in the occupied
Palestinian territory,
including East Jerusalem.”
Rather than comply with the
resolution, Israel approved
the construction of 6,000 new
housing units in the OPT
immediately following its
passing.</p>
<p class="rtejustify">The UN
resolution reflects basic
principles of international
law, which are contravened in
the “Regularization” Law.
International humanitarian law
includes prohibitions against
the confiscation or
destruction of private
property<a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftn4"
name="_ftnref4" title=""
id="_ftnref4">[4]</a> and
prohibitions against pillage.<a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftn5"
name="_ftnref5" title=""
id="_ftnref5">[5]</a></p>
<p class="rtejustify">The
“extensive destruction and
appropriation of property, not
justified by military
necessity and carried out
unlawfully and wantonly” is a
grave breach under the Fourth
Geneva Convention and is also
considered a war crime under
the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court.
Israel’s transfer of settlers
into the oPtas well as
forcible transfer of
Palestinians within the oPt
are also prohibited under
Article 49 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention and
constitute grave breaches
under article 147 and a war
crime and/or crime against
humanity under Article 7 and
Article 8 of the Rome Statute
of the International Criminal
Court</p>
<p class="rtejustify">PHROC and
others have repeatedly called
upon the international
community to abide by their
international obligations and
hold Israel accountable for
its continuous violations of
international law. We
reiterate this call and urge
the UN and third states to act
immediately by imposing
sanctions against Israel and
taking all measures within
their control to ensure the
protection of fundamental
Palestinian rights. After
50-years of occupation and as
Israel’s actions become
increasingly brazen, the world
should no longer turn a blind
eye to Israel’s colonization
of Palestine and its impact on
Palestinian lives.</p>
<p align="center"><strong>-End-</strong></p>
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width="33%">
<p><a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftnref1"
name="_ftn1" title=""
id="_ftn1">[1]</a> Andrew
Carey and EmanuellaGrinburg,
<em>Israel’s Parliament
Passes West Bank Outposts
Bill, </em>CNN, 7
February 2017, <em>available
at </em><a
href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/06/middleeast/israel-knesset-west-bank-outposts-bill/">http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/06/middleeast/israel-knesset-west-bank-outposts-bill/</a></p>
<p><a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftnref2"
name="_ftn2" title=""
id="_ftn2">[2]</a><em>Id.</em></p>
<p><a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftnref3"
name="_ftn3" title=""
id="_ftn3">[3]</a>
Notably, this law was passed
against the backdrop of an
unprecedented demolition
campaign by Israeli forces
in East Jerusalem and Area
C, resulting in the forced
displacement of thousands of
Palestinians. More
specifically, during 2016,
Israel demolished 575
Palestinian structures
displacing 1,681 people. </p>
<p><a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftnref4"
name="_ftn4" title=""
id="_ftn4">[4]</a> Article
46 of Hague Regulations,
Article 53 of Fourth Geneva
Convention and Rule 51 of
International Customary Law</p>
<p><a
href="about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.addameer.org%2Fnews%2Fphroc-calls-immediate-action-international-community-israel%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%259Cregularization%25E2%2580%259D-law#_ftnref5"
name="_ftn5" title=""
id="_ftn5">[5]</a> Article
47 of Hague Regulations.</p>
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