Netanyahu pledges to legalize settlement outposts if he gets re-elected

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Sunday to legalize settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank if he is re-elected later this month.

In a step aimed to attract right-wing voters and shore up a majority that his Likud party failed to achieve in the country’s three prior elections, Netanyahu swore that he “will take care of the settlements and the authorisation of the young settlements.”

“I swear to you: If I create a strong right-wing government without a rotation, I will take care of the settlements and the authorisation of the young settlements,” he said during a visit to the illegal Givat Harel outpost in the occupied West Bank.

Outposts, or “young settlements”, are settlements that are considered illegal by Israeli occupation authorities.

However, the larger settlements that are recognised by ‘Israel’ are still considered illegal under international law.

Netanyahu had previously promised to authorize the illegal settlement outposts, of which there are some 165 in the occupied West Bank.

Some 100 were built from 1991-2005 and another 65 constructed in the last eight years during Netanyahu’s tenure.

More than a dozen outposts have been legalized during that time, according to Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity.

Some 15 West Bank outposts have been legalized as new neighborhoods of existing settlements while Netanyahu has been in office. Another 10 are in the process of legalization.

Efforts to legalize the remaining outposts were blocked by Benny Gantz, the Blue and White chairman who has served as alternate prime minister and defence minister since last year.

Israelis will go to the polls on 23 March, the fourth election in two years.