The Ministerial Committee for Legislation was expected to discuss legislation on Sunday to apply Israeli sovereignty over Jewish outposts in the West Bank, including the disputed Ulpana outpost.
According to a proposal, initiated by Likud MK Miri Regev, restrictions on building settlements shall be imposed only with Knesset approval, Israel Radio reported.
MKs Yaakov Katz of the National Union party and Zevulun Orlev of Habayit Hayehudi are expected to file similar proposals this week for a preliminary reading.
They are submitting their proposals after the government\’s ministerial committee previously declined to approve their proposals.
Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein has opposed using the various proposals being discussed to resolve the dispute over the Ulpana and other West Bank outposts.
He prefers to carry out the existing order of the High Court to evacuate the outposts and is against what could be perceived as Knesset interference with existing court orders.
Sunday\’s meeting continues from a special ministerial meeting to discuss the fate of 30 homes in the Ulpana outpost from Friday which ended without any conclusive decisions.
Participants in Friday\’s meeting included: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Minister-without-Portfolio Bennie Begin, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Vice Premier and Kadima party chairman Shaul Mofaz and Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein, as well as representatives of the IDF\’s Civil Administration.
Speaking ahead of Friday\’s meeting, Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin said a law dealing with the outpost must do so justly, noting that illegal Beduin towns in the South would be handled similarly.
Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On, however, blasted the attempts to sidestep the High Court ruling. She asserted that the government was favoring settlers, telling Israel Radio, "The rest of the Israeli population does not get special laws."
Retroactive legalization, she continued, encourages hilltop youth – young radical settlers who set up unauthorized outposts – to defy the law in the knowledge that their actions can later be legalized.
Earlier last week, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said the government must pass a law to circumvent the High Court decision to demolish the outpost.
Liberman said that finding a resolution to the Ulpana issue was one the two most important tests of the new coalition\’s worth.
“The residents living on the Ulpana Hill are law-abiding citizens and fulfill all their obligations: They serve in the IDF and do reserve duty, they work and pay taxes,” Liberman explained. “This is not an illegal outpost; it is the government’s mistake.”