JERUSALEM, Wednesday, May 22, 2024 (WAFA) – The Knesset today passed the preliminary reading of a bill that annexes part of the occupied West Bank territory to Israel.
The bill which provides for the annexation of parts of the West Bank territory to Israel and defining the Southern Hebron Hills as part of the Naqab region.
The bill, proposed by the Knesset member Limor Son-Har Melech, a member of Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir-led Jewish National Front party, passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum, with 52 members of the Knesset supporting the bill, 37 opposing it and none abstaining.
The bill is based on the 1991 “Negev Law which legally defines the Negev as everything south of the 115th parallel on the old Israeli grid system,” and paves the way for the annexation of 15 Israeli colonies, including Kiryat Arba, and an unidentified number of colonial outposts to Israel.
Israeli media reported that Opposition leader Yair Lapid attacked the bill: "Kiryat Arba is not in the Negev. For years they've been robbing the periphery and today, they're turning into law. The Negev is the Negev, Judea and Samaria ]i.e. occupied West Bank[ is Judea and Samaria, and the Galilee is the Galilee. Don't make up geography that doesn't exist . . .You are stealing funds from Netivot, Ofakim, and Kiryat Shmona. For 50 years the settlements have been stealing funds from the periphery and the Likud is silent."
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