Arab League Accuses Israel of Palestinian Land Theft

The Arab League accused Israel on Tuesday of "stealing the land" of Palestinians after the Israeli parliament passed a law legalising dozens of Jewish outposts in the occupied West Bank.

"The law in question is only a cover for stealing the land and appropriating the property of Palestinians," said the head of the Cairo-based League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

The law, adopted late Monday, will allow Israel to legally seize Palestinian private land on which Israelis built outposts without knowing it was private property or because the state allowed them to do so.

Palestinian owners will be compensated financially or with other land.

The law is a continuation of "Israeli policies aimed at eliminating any possibility of a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," Aboul Gheit said.

Jordan, one of the few Arab states to have diplomatic ties with Israel, also denounced what it called "a provocative law likely to kill any hope of a two-state solution".

The parliamentary approval could "lead the region into further violence and torpedo any peace effort," Information Minister Mohamed Momani said, quoted by the official news agency Petra.