In a last ditch effort to save 30 Ulpana outpost homes from demolition, two parliamentarians plan to ask the Knesset next week to approve legislation to retroactively authorize the structures located on the outskirts of the West Bank settlement of Beit El.
Both MKs, National Union Party head Yaakov Katz and Zevulun Orlev (HaBayit-HaYehudi) plan to present separate bills on the matter, for which they believe there is majority support.
It is unclear if bills will be presented to the plenum on this upcoming Monday or Wednesday. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin has yet to place them on the schedule. The vote is considered a preliminary reading, after which the bills must move to committee and return to the plenum.
While the timing was inspired by last Monday’s High Court of Justice ruling ordering the state, by July 1, to demolish the 30 Ulpana homes, which were constructed without the proper permits on land classified by the state as private Palestinian property.
But the bills’ scope concerns the larger issue of unauthorized outposts. If the plenum passes the bills and they survive judicial challenges, the legislation would transform dozens of fledgling hilltop communities into new legal settlements under Israeli law.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has yet to publicly state his opinion on the matter. He expected to hold meetings in the coming days on the issue with a ministerial forum that includes: Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Begin, Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, Vice Premiers Moshe Ya’alon, Shaul Mofaz and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.
On Thursday, the Makor Rishon newspaper published details of a conversation between Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin on the matter.
Netanyahu told Rivlin that he would free coalition members to vote their conscience on the matter, rather than opposing the legislation has he has done in the past.
An official in the Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu was looking at different options within the frame of the law.
Orlev told The Jerusalem Post he believes that there is enough support to pass the bills.
Katz’s bill seeks legislation for those West Bank outpost constructed with governmental funds or initial technical approvals. In instances where such fledgling settler communities were built on private Palestinian land, it suggests compensating landowners rather than evacuating outpost residents.
The legislation would also retroactively legalize homes within West Bank settlements. Katz’s spokesman said he believed that some 9,000 already existing structures would be impacted by the bill.
Peace Now Executive Director Yariv Oppenheimer said that the bills were a test case for the new national unity coalition.
The question is, he said, whether the parliamentarians will support “land theft” or will they reject the bills and show “they are committed to the basic principles of democratic life and rule of law.”

JPost.com