![Knesset](https://a7.org/files/pictures/781x439/1174650.jpg)
The Knesset plenum in a preliminary reading approved today (Wednesday) in the bill to repeal a Jordanian law that discriminates in Judea and Samaria.
The bill, initiated by the Land of Israel lobby in the Knesset, headed by MK Limor Son Har-Melech, MK Yuli Edelstein and MK Simcha Rothman, was approved by a majority of 57 supporters to 33 opponents.
Jordanian law prohibits the purchase of land in Judea and Samaria by foreigners who do not have Jordanian or Arab citizenship. If it is passed, the bill is expected to allow Jews to purchase land in Judea and Samaria without going through the Civil Administration.
The initiators of the bill note that the discriminatory law remained in place after the liberation of Judea and Samaria in 1967, and since then it has been directed mainly against Jews. For years, the "Regavim" movement led a legal battle against the law, and at the end of 2022, the Supreme Court rejected their latest petition on the grounds that the discrimination did not require judicial intervention and recommended that Regavim resort to civil proceedings.
The current law does not allow any Jew to purchase land in Judea and Samaria without a complex process of incorporation as a company, as allowed by a partial general order issued in 1971. The order allowed the purchase only through a company registered in Judea and Samaria and without imposing a restriction on the identity of the company's owners. This is a restrictive amendment that allowed Jews to purchase land only if registered as a company owner.
The repeal legislation states that "this reality, which establishes restrictions on the right of a citizen of the State of Israel to purchase rights to land in the Judea and Samaria region solely because he is an Israeli citizen, is unacceptable. Therefore, it is proposed to determine in primary legislation that any person will be entitled to purchase rights to land in the Judea and Samaria region like everywhere else."
The leaders of the lobby welcomed the passage of the law and said, "Today we have taken an important step towards abolishing the Apartheid system that for many years excluded Jews from purchasing land. This is another step in strengthening governance and practical sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and we hope that this will soon allow more and more settlers to purchase land and expand settlement in Judea and Samaria without any anachronistic restrictions that have harmed Jewish settlement within our country."
Meir Deutsch, CEO of Regavim, added, "About two years after the Supreme Court decided 'surprisingly' not to intervene and invalidate such a racist law, the legislative authority, with great consensus, speaks its mind and supports such a basic step: a Jew can buy land in the Land of Israel. At long last, the racist abuse that was taken from dark regions and other times is on its way to the dustbin of history."