Israeli parliament approves first reading to extend 'Emergency Regulations' in occupied West Bank

The Israeli parliament passed on Tuesday the so-called "Emergency Regulations in Judea and Samaria." The "temporary" measure is voted on every five years. 

The bill was first adopted in 1967 after Israel occupied the West Bank. It addresses the legal status of Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank by maintaining their Israeli citizenship and rights, although they live beyond the green line— Israel's internationally recognised borders. 

Tuesday's vote passed in the first reading. 

The legislation allows Jewish settlers to appear in Israeli courts for offences committed in the occupied West Bank. It also allows, contrary to international law, to jail Palestinians from the West Bank inside Israel. 

Palestinians call it the "apartheid law" as it puts in place a two-tiered system—one for Jews and another for Palestinians. 

The bill is expected to pass in the second and third readings. 

On Monday, the house committee of the Israeli parliament backed a motion to bring forward the debate on bills for revoking the citizenship or residency status of a "terrorist operative" receiving payment for perpetrating an act of "terrorism."

The motion passed by a majority of 10 MKs in favour and two opposed. 

The committee's chairman, Ofir Katz, from the Likud, said, "We were all shocked to see the reception given to the murderer." Katz referred to the welcome celebrations given to Karim Younes, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, after serving 40 years in Israeli jails for killing an Israeli soldier stationed in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. 

The Likud and Religious Zionism sponsored the bill. 

MKs Ahmad Tibi and Waleed Taha opposed the motion. For his part, Tibi slammed the bill as "selective", targeting only Arabs. 

"Has anyone in the Knesset, since Rabin's assassination, thought of revoking the murderer's citizenship?" Tibi asked members of the committee. 

Tibi was referring to Yigal Amir, the Jewish extremist serving a life sentence for assassinating Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin, in 1995, at a peace rally in Tel Aviv. 

"Has anyone considered revoking the citizenship of Ami Popper, who murdered and massacred seven Palestinian workers?" he added. 

Popper murdered seven Palestinian construction workers in 1990. He is set to be released in 2030 after President Shimon Peres commuted his sentence.