The Israeli parliament voted in the first reading a bill that seeks to renew the extension of Israeli criminal law to settlers living in the occupied West Bank, according to AFP, Agerpres reads.

It is the first draft law submitted to the vote of the new government, the most right-wing in the history of Israel, since its inauguration on December 29 under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. „We have started to believe again in our right over the entire territory of Israel and we have returned to strengthen the Jewish settlements” in the West Bank, he added.

In force since the 1967 Six-Day War and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, this law, which stipulates that the approximately 475,000 settlers in the West Bank enjoy the same rights as citizens living in Israel, is ratified every five years by to parliament.

The West Bank, home to more than 2.9 million Palestinians, is subject to Israeli military law. The law had to be renewed by June 30, but two MPs from the former government coalition – made up of right-wing, center-left parties and an Arab party – voted against it, contributing to the split of the government led by centrist Yair Lapid and the fall of to.

The opposition, then led by Netanyahu and made up of pro-settler parties, announced that they were voting against this project simply to show their defiance towards the government. Victorious in legislative elections on November 1, Netanyahu, indicted for corruption, formed his government with far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, and some of their representatives were appointed to key posts.

The new ministerial team has already announced its intention to continue colonization in the Occupied Territories, condemned by the UN as illegal from the perspective of international law.

A number of 58 deputies voted for the proposed law on „emergency measures in Judea-Samaria” (the name given by Israel to the West Bank) and 13 against. The text must also pass the second and third reading to be adopted.

Agerpres