Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he will return from London intime to be present for the Regulation Bill vote set to be brought for its second and third reading in the Knesset Monday night. The bill seeks to retroactively legalize outposts built in the West Bank.
On Sunday, Likud ministers and officials said Netanyahu requested to delay thevote until he returns from his state visit to London, but Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett refused.
The drama over the bill intensified when Ministry of Defense Legal Advisor, Ahaz Ben Ari, stated bluntly on Monday that he and Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman are both opposed to the Regulation Bill, which has been the subject of much controversy in recent months.
"The defense establishment and I, the minister, are all opposed to this bill, plain and simple. The minister has expressed his opinion. I am also presenting my position, it's safer. We are completely opposed to this matter, to this bill," Lieberman said.
In previous discussions on the Regulation Bill, Lieberman advised that the bill be delayed until after the inauguration of President Trump. "My recommendation is to wait for the new American administration, so that together, we can create new policy. I've made my position clear in both the cabinet and in public," he continued.
Opposition members repeated their stance against the bill when MK Dov Khenin spoke before the Knesset saying, "We, the members of the opposition, are reiterating our opposition to this irregular procedure that the Knesset majority has imposed upon us. We will not cooperate with this non-parliamentary process for a law that not even the Attorney General is ready to defend to the High Court. This law isn’t worthy, not for us and not for the honor of the State."
The proposed bill seeks to establish that residents who built their houses on land beyond the Green Line at the encouragement or support of the government will not be evacuated, and that the rightful owner of the land will receive compensation for it. Evacuation, it was made clear in the proposal, will only be possible in a future agreement.