In a rare warning, the US State Department called on Israel to refrain from the legalization of the illegal West Bank outpost of Homesh, the Middle East Monitor reported.
“The Homesh outpost in the West Bank is illegal,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday.
“It is illegal even under Israeli Law. Our call to refrain from unilateral steps certainly includes any decision to create a new settlement, to legalize outposts or allow building of any kind deep in the West Bank, adjacent to Palestinian communities or on private Palestinian land.”
Israeli settlements often begin life as illegal outposts. In the case of Homesh, the illegal outpost was established in 1978 on confiscated land belonging to Palestinian residents of the nearby village of Burqa.
Homesh was evacuated, along with three other West Bank settlements, when Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
The Disengagement Law prohibits Israelis from entering Homesh without special permission. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have agreed to amend the 2005 Disengagement Law, which would legalize the Homesh outpost.
(PC, MEMO, SOCIAL)
Netanyahu misses Donald Trump, who would consider all Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territories legal. Ned Price and Joe Biden may call the settlements illegal but will continue to cave in to Israel and AIPAC. Their words about the Homesh Settlements ring hollow and Netanyahu hopes Trump becomes POTUS in 2024.