Israel legalizes West Bank settlements

Israel today approved legislation to legalize thousands of homes built on disputed land in the West Bank. The measure is the latest in a series of pro-settler steps taken by Israel since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. The move met international criticism. Nickolay Mladenov, the UN coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the new law endangers a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a proposal many countries support. Britain’s minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, said the law “damages Israel’s standing with its international partners.” The law was “a first step in a series of measures that we must take in order to make our presence in Judea and Samaria present for years, for decades, for ages,” said Israeli Cabinet Minister Yariv Levin, using the Biblical name for the West Bank. “I do believe that our right over our fatherland is something that cannot be denied.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.