Israeli rights groups sue to stop settlement legalization law

JERUSALEM — Two Israeli rights groups on Wednesday asked the country’s Supreme Court to overturn a new law legalizing dozens of settler outposts in the West Bank, opening what is expected to be a lengthy legal battle over the contentious legislation.

The law, backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist coalition, retroactively legalized thousands of homes found to have been built on private Palestinian land.

In the first lawsuit against the measure, the Arab rights group Adalah and the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center asked the high court to block implementation of the law.

“This sweeping and dangerous law permits the expropriation of vast tracts of private Palestinian land, giving absolute preference to the political interests of Israel,” said Suhad Bishara, an attorney for Adalah.



Since Trump took office, Israel has approved plans to build more than 6,000 new homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.