Israel repeals 2005 act on West Bank settlement pullout
LA TimesA Palestinian youth holds a national flag next to a water tank in the former Israeli settlement of Homesh near the West Bank city of Jenin on Oct. 3, 2013. Israeli lawmakers on Tuesday repealed a 2005 act that saw four Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank dismantled at the same time as Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu’s government has put settlement expansion at the top of its agenda and has already advanced thousands of new settlement housing units and retroactively authorized nine wildcat outposts in the West Bank. Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist West Bank settler now serving as minister in charge of police, said Tuesday that the repeal of the ban corrects “a historic injustice” and pledged to continue boosting settlements. “Our government wants unlimited power.” The threat of losing military personnel, particularly as tensions surge in the occupied West Bank, has sparked concern and condemnation.