News Brief

A Knesset subcommittee studying the illegal settlements built by Bedouin squatters in the Negev is set to release its report in the coming weeks – and sources close to the subcommittee said that it was likely that the report will recommend giving retroactive permits for as many as 50,000 illegally built structures in 46 illegally built villages and towns. At the same time, the report will recommend greater enforcement of laws against illegal building in the future. According to the sources, subcommittee members believe that there is little that can be done at this point to remove the settlements, so it is instead seeking a way to legalize them.

Commenting on the report, MK Aryeh Eldad (NRP-NU) said that such a course of action would constitute an "internal surrender to the Arabs," similar to the external surrender in giving up land to the Arabs. " There is no 'half-surrender,' only standing firm or totally giving up," Eldad said.