Jerusalem // Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman has suggested that a parliamentary vote to legalise Jewish settler homes in the occupied West Bank should be put on hold until Donald Trump becomes US president.
Mr Lieberman was asked about the vote, which could go to its first reading on Monday, at a conference in Washington on Friday night.
“I think it’s much better to postpone all this legislation and steps until January 20,” he said.
US president Barack Obama officially hands over office to Mr Trump on that date.
“My proposal is to wait for the new administration and to create, together with the new administration, a common policy without any uprise and not to create facts but to wait and to discuss with the next administration our policy and our visions.
“I think it makes sense,” Lieberman said.
Israeli right-wingers hailed Mr Trump’s November 8 election win, which they hope will usher in a US administration far less critical of settlement expansion than under Mr Obama.
The first reading of a bill to legalise about 4,000 settler homes in the West Bank was to be held on Wednesday but was postponed, reportedly because efforts were still being made to secure a majority.
The settlement bill has tested prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, widely seen as the most right-wing in the country’s history.
Mr Netanyahu does not want the bill to pass and has warned that it could violate international law and have repercussions at the International Criminal Court.
Countries including the United States have criticised the bill and Mr Netanyahu is concerned about an international backlash.
But he is also faced with holding together his coalition and not being seen as acting against the powerful settler movement.
Israel’s attorney general has said the legislation will not hold up in court.
But those who support it say the move is urgently needed to protect a Jewish outpost called Amona, where about 40 families live. Israel’s high court has ordered the settlement to be demolished by December 25 because it is built on private Palestinian land.
The bill, however, goes far beyond legalising Amona and would allow an estimated 4,000 Jewish homes in the West Bank to be legalised, according to the settlement watchdog Peace Now.
* Agence France-Presse