Israel recognises settlement on private West Bank land

An Israeli court has for the first time recognised as legal a settlement established on privately owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, court officials said Tuesday.

The settlement of Mitzpe Carmit, close to Ramallah, was established in the late 1990s on land owned by Palestinians who had title deeds recognised by the Israeli authorities.

The owners had appealed to the Israeli courts to have the settlers evicted from their land.

But the Jerusalem district court found the settlement was legal as it had been created with the consent of the Israeli authorities and that the settlers had settled there "in good faith" -- without knowing the land was privately owned.

Today, the settlement close to Ramallah is home to several dozen families.

The ruling may still be appealed, but if that fails, it could serve as a precedent for the legal recognition of settlements established without permission from the Israeli authorities or occupying land privately owned by Palestinians.

The international community does not distinguish between different types of Israeli settlements in the territories it occupies, seeing them all as illegal under international law.

Settlers on public radio welcomed the ruling, which was slammed by campaign groups and left-wing politicians.

The ruling shows "the property rights of Palestinians aren't equal to those of Jews and that the government is no longer obliged to respect private property," said MP Michal Rozin, a member of the left-wing opposition party Meretz.

Most of the international community sees Israel's West Bank settlements as illegal and as one of the main obstacles to peace, something Israel disputes.

The settlement project, pursued by every Israeli government since the country occupied the West Bank in 1967, has fragmented the land where Palestinians hope to create their future state.

More than 400,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory alongside more than 2.5 million Palestinians.