Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ruled Tuesday that a criminal investigation will not be opened against settlements and outposts that were built on privately-owned Palestinian land.
Mazuz's
decision, which was relayed by his aide, was made in response to a Peace Now report on the issue.
In the State response written by Mazuz's aide, Attorney Eyal Yinon, it was written that the attorney general and Justice Ministry associates have recently been intensively dealing with how to approach the problem of illegal outposts. The response detailed the actions taken by Mazuz on the matter.
The attorney general's working assumption is that all budget allocations from the Building and Planning Ministry to the local authorities in the West Bank must be frozen until a fitting mechanism for preventing illegal money transfers can be put in practice.
Mazuz also mentioned that following the findings published in the State Comptroller's Report in regards to the transfer of state resources to the illegal outposts, a criminal investigation will be launched to look in to certain aspects of the building issue presented by Peace Now.
The attorney general's response also stated that legislative steps were taken in order to establish jurisdiction to put Israelis who have committed certain crimes related to building illegal outposts on trial.
Among other things, a directive was issued stipulating that the local West Bank courts are permitted to try Israelis who committed violations related to building, planning, or not evacuating illegal outposts.
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