Israel on Monday passed a law legalising around 4,000 settler homes built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, a measure which has drawn concern from international organisations.
Israel, in the 1967 war, had captured the Arab east Jerusalem and annexed it later. However, the annexation is not recognised by the international community. The country declared the entire city as its unified capital, but Palestine says that east Jerusalem is the capital of their future state. Israel is building settlements in Jerusalem despite the United Nations' warning.
The legalisation of the homes has been condemned by Palestinians, who see their hopes of a statehood being dashed. The measure also conflicts with the Israeli Supreme Court rulings on property rights and is considered unconstitutional by the country's attorney general.
The legalisation has raised tensions in the Israeli government even though it was passed by a vote of 60 to 52, and was backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition.
Although the United States President supports Israel, a White House official on Monday said that the Donald Trump administration "will withhold comment on the legislation until the relevant court ruling" as the new law will possibly face challenges in Israeli courts.
According to Reuters, Netanyahu is privately opposing the bill, considering it could provide grounds for prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. However, a White House official said that Washington would oppose any such international action against the country.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in December had passed a resolution asking Israel to stop building settlement buildings on the occupied Palestinian land, including East Jerusalem, calling the act "illegal." After Trump reportedly pressured Egypt to drop the resolution, three countries including New Zealand picked it up and sponsored it. The US, which usually vetoes resolutions concerning Israel, abstained from voting on Saturday on former President Barack Obama's directions, drawing heavy criticism from the nation.
Last month, Trump had made a phone call to Netanyahu, inviting him to visit Washington. Hours before that call, Israel had approved hundreds of new settler homes in east Jerusalem. However, the plan to annex a large part of the West Bank Jewish settlement was reportedly unilaterally shelved until the Trump-Netanyahu meeting.
Netanyahu, however, met UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday and told the Israeli reporters that he did not want to delay the vote on settler homes and that he sought only to update Washington ahead of time - which he said he did, Reuters reported.
