Netanyahu calls to delay vote on bill legalizing West Bank outposts

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow Likud lawmakers on Sunday that he wants to postpone the vote on the so-called "Formalization Bill" that would retroactively legalize outposts in the West Bank until after Israel's top court rules on the government's request to delay the evacuation of an illegal outpost built on private Palestinian land.

Netanyahu said at the beginning of the government's weekly meeting that the request to delay Amona's evacuation was filed with the court at the behest of the heads of the coalition's parties, Haaretz newspaper reported.

He added that the attorney general had warned that voting on the outpost bill before the court had ruled would "would significantly harm" the changes for postponement.

"We will examine the possibility of evacuating them with responsibility," said Netanyahu. "There is no one who worries about the settlement more than us."

Source: MENA