Next week, the Knesset is scheduled to approve in second and third readings the Admissions Committees Law, which is intended to expand communities in the Galilee. The Minister of Settlements and National Missions, Orit Struk, enlisted expert opinions, including one signed by the previous government's director-general.
Minister Strzok at the scene of a terrorist attack (archive) // Photo: Yoni Rikner
The expansion of Jewish communities in the Galilee is reaching its final stretch: The Admissions Committees Law (an amendment to the Cooperative Societies Ordinance) is expected to pass the Knesset in the coming days, but its initiators are already anxiously watching the High Court of Justice. The law, which is intended to pave the way for the expansion of community communities in the periphery and at the same time preserve their unique character through admissions committees, is an initiative of Minister Strzok and signed by Knesset members from the coalition and the opposition, headed by MK Sharan Haskel from the state camp. The declared goal of the law is the Judaization of the Galilee, and throughout the recent discussions in the Knesset's Committee on National Projects, security, settlement and community experts came to explain the need to expand settlements as infrastructure for everyone.
Minister Orit Strock, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
At the beginning of the week, the final version of the law is expected to be determined through dialogue between the attorney general and the initiators of the law, and it will include changes both in the number of families and in the area in which the law applies. The bill, to which the law of continuity was applied from the previous Knesset, seeks to apply two main amendments and determine that community settlement will not only be in the Negev and Galilee regions, but also in the Iron Valley, the South Hebron Hills, the Adulam region, the Lachish region, and the Judea and Samaria region (legal difficulties may lead Judea and Samaria out, and only a parallel order will determine its applicability). In addition, it is proposed to expand the conditions for the admissions committee in these localities from 400 households to 1,000 lots.
The opposition also supports
The concern about the High Court of Justice, which last time opposed the law's appeal on Cole's side, runs through difficulties now raised by the Attorney General in arguing that equality over community is preferred, but the data presented to the committee show that since that central appeal, 97.5% of the applicants have been accepted to localities that wish to settle in them, and only a minority have been rejected. "The amendment also enjoys broad support in the opposition, because anyone who holds the settlement close to his heart understands that community resilience is the key to its prosperity, and harming this resilience will, God forbid, lead to its collapse," Minister Strzok told Israel Hayom.
Supreme Court justices, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Sharan Haskel, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
MK Sharan Haskel also expressed her belief that after the law finally passes the Knesset, it will also pass the High Court hurdle. "We are holding in-depth discussions about the law and there is no problem with an organization trying to appeal against it. In the end, it passes with very broad support in the Knesset of opposition and coalition, and we find the necessary balances, so I think it will stand the test of the High Court."
Committee Chairman MK Ohad Tal told Israel Hayom: "There are differences of opinion on the wording of the law. This is against the background of an emphasis that there will be no misplaced discrimination, and on the other hand on strengthening settlement in the Negev and Galilee and preserving community resilience. The matter of Judea and Samaria is still under discussion and no decision has yet been made. Regarding the quota, the law deals with about 1,000 families. This process may be done gradually."
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