Ministerial Committee on Legislation to debate proposal seeking to subject the Israeli citizens of Judea and Samaria to the full extent of Israel’s civil and criminal codes • Current situation effectively imposes dual legal system on the area.
By Gideon Allon and Israel Hayom Staff
Habayit Hayehudi MK Orit Struck
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation is scheduled to debate a new bill seeking to subject the Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria to the full extent of Israeli law.
According to Israel’s Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1967, while most articles in Israel’s criminal and civil codes apply across Judea and Samaria, the area is simultaneously under military law, meaning its Israeli citizens are subjected to a dual legal system. Furthermore, many legal amendments enacted in Israel over the years, especially those pertaining to property and labor laws, exclude the settlements.
The proposal, presented by MK Orit Struck (Habayit Hayehudi) and supported by the Knesset’s Land of Israel Lobby, has been dubbed the “norms bill.” Other signatories to the bill include Coalition Chairman MK Zeev Elkin (Likud), Habayit Hayehudi MK Ayelet Shaked, Land of Israel Lobby chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud), Shas MK Avraham Michaeli, Yisrael Beytenu MK David Rotem and United Torah Judaism MK Menachem Moses.
The bill states that every law passed by the Knesset would be enacted in Judea and Samaria by a GOC Central Command order, within 45 days of its approval.
The proposal’s stated purpose is to “rectify the current situation … in which some 350,000 Israelis living across Judea and Samaria participate in elections for the Knesset, but it does not actually run their lives due to the lacking application of Israeli law in the area,” and to “equate the legal norms imposed on Israeli citizens, regardless of their place of residence.”
The bill’s brief stressed that it does not seek to promote a change in the area’s diplomatic status, nor does it seek to contradict the international law edicts to which Israel subscribes to in the area.
“There is no reason that Israeli citizens living in Judea and Samaria should be unable to realize their rights, as well as their obligations, via their elected officials in the Knesset, even without imposing [Israeli] sovereignty on the area,” Struck noted.
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation is set to debate the bill on Sunday.
@ Bear Klein:
I fully agree with you but for sure the Livni-Weinstein and Netanyahu trio will block them. So far they have done that every single time.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:The snake in this case is actually a bird (Zippora) Livni. Let us see if she tries and blow this half measure to sovereignty up.
What we need is to start passing the other proposed bills were section by Area C is annexed fully. What we need is building rights in Judah and Samaria just like elsewhere in Israel.
Excellent! Netanyahu will be intimidated by a shrieking snake and not allow it.