Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked
Justice Minister Ayelet ShakedFlash90

Army Radio this morning reported that Professor Joe Wheeler, an international lawyer from the United States, has been hired by the Israeli government to help it promote the “Cyprus Solution” to land ownership issues in Judea and Samaria.

According to the plan, an arbitration committee will be appointed to decide on issues of land belonging to private owners and whether and how much compensation to give in these cases.

Sources close to Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked indicated that the ministry is working on adapting the Cyprus model to Israel in order to resolve the issues of Palestinian land ownership claims throughout Judea and Samaria, including Amona. The invitation of a renowned international jurist to participate in the formulation of the plan is expected to help deal with the expected response from Europe to the plan.

The promotion of the Cyprus model is going on in parallel to efforts to enact the Regulation Law, which passed its preliminary reading last week and is expected to be brought before a special committee this week to discuss its first reading in the Knesset. Senior coalition officials estimate that details of the new plan will be presented next week.