[JURIST] A proposed Israeli law legalizing more than 100 outposts in the occupied West Bank would violate Israeli and international law, stated [statement] a UN Special Rapporteur on Monday. Michael Lynk [official profile], Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, warned that the legalization of the outposts could spell the demise of the two-state solution. Lynk further said that the:

outposts undermine the Palestinian right to self-determination, violate their rights to property, freedom of movement and development, and continue to confine the Palestinians into smaller and smaller cantons of non-contiguous lands within their own territory.

Lynk noted that the bill is in violation of the Geneva Conventions [materials], which prohibit an occupying power from confiscating private poverty and in violation of the Israeli Supreme Court [TOI report], which has ruled many times that the confiscation of private Palestinian lands is illegal. Lynk called on the international community to make it clear to the Israeli Government that the annexation of occupied territory is a breach of international law and that if Israel proceeds with the confiscation, to be prepared to condemn the actions and reverse the violations.

Recent conflicts between Israel and Palestine [HRW backgrounder] over settlements in the occupied West Bank have raised concerns over possible human rights violations. In March the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said [JURIST report] that the office is concerned about the apparent extra-judicial execution of a Palestinian man in the West Bank. In January Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] businesses to cease operations in Israel settlements. In August 2015 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged both sides of the conflict [JURIST report] to reconcile and move towards peace after an attack occurred in the West Bank village of Duma, where Jewish extremists allegedly set fire to a Palestinian home while the family slept. Last year HRW alleged [HRW report] that Israeli settlement farmers in the occupied West Bank are using Palestinian child laborers in dangerous conditions in violation of international laws.