Knesset OKs Repeal of ‘Disengagement Law’ for Northern West Bank, US Protests

By Staff, Agencies

The US administration of Joe Biden called the Zionist entity’s ambassador to Washington to the State Department for an unscheduled meeting on Tuesday in a rare move by the Biden administration aimed at escalating its protest against the Knesset’s [‘Israeli’ parliament] passage of a ‘law’ that will allow the resettlement of evacuated areas of the northern West Bank.

A readout issued by the US after Ambassador Mike Herzog’s meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the American official “conveyed US concern” regarding the aspects of the 2005 ‘Disengagement Law’ that the Knesset voted to rescind, including the prohibition on establishing settlements in the northern West Bank.

The two diplomats also “discussed the importance of all parties refraining from actions or rhetoric that could further inflame tensions leading into the Ramadan, Passover, and Easter holidays,” the State Department said in an apparent reference to so-called Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s claim earlier this week that the Palestinian people are an “invention” — a claim the US condemned separately on Monday.

Earlier this month, Smotrich called to “wipe out” a Palestinian town in additional comments that drew US criticism.

When asked about the meeting, the Zionist embassy in Washington declined to comment.

The Knesset voted in the early hours of Tuesday morning to roll back the legislation that ordered the evacuation of four northern West Bank settlements concurrent with the Zionist regime’s pullout from the Gaza Strip in 2005, passing the repeal in second and third [final] Knesset readings 31-18.

The ‘law,’ which won some support from opposition members including so-called National Unity party’s Gideon Sa’ar and Ze’ev Elkin, repeals the clauses of the ‘Disengagement Law’ that banned Zionist settlers from the area where the settlements of Homesh, Ganim, Kadim and Sa-Nur once stood, paving the way for settlers to return.

The four communities were the only occupied West Bank settlements to be cleared during what is termed the Disengagement from Gaza close to 18 years ago. The new ‘law’ applies to those areas only.

The head of the ‘Israeli’ military’s Central Command will still need to sign a military order allowing Zionist settlers to return to those areas.

The destroyed towns have been a symbol to settlement supporters of an injustice they have sought to undo, while to Palestinians the areas are another section of West Bank territory stripped from them.

The repeal, approved in a first Knesset reading less than a week ago, will bolster the coalition’s efforts to ‘legalize’ a wildcat outpost currently occupying the site of Homesh and a yeshiva that has been built there, which activists have tried repeatedly to reestablish since 2005.

Repealing restrictions on the ‘Israelis’’ entry was a required step toward ‘legalizing’ the outpost. Homesh is built on private Palestinian land, according to a 'High Court' ruling.

Watchdogs and opponents of the bill have warned that the ‘law’ could be used to further expand settlement activity in the region in general, and could lead to de facto annexation of large parts of the West Bank, undermining the Zionist entity’s status.

The bill has been contentious internationally and violates a major ‘Israeli’ commitment to the administration of former president George W. Bush to ensure enough Palestinian contiguity for a viable future state, as the US under Bush agreed for the first time to recognize the need for land swaps in any potential ‘peace’ deal and consider ‘Israeli’ settlement blocs.