The Evening Wrap: SC fixes Apr. 11 to examine if electoral bonds scheme pleas need to be referred

The Supreme Court on March 21 fixed April 11 to examine whether petitions challenging the validity of electoral bonds scheme need to be referred to a Constitution Bench. A Bench led by Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud was urged by senior advocate Dushyant Dave, advocates Prashant Bhushan, Shadan Farasat and Neha Rathi, all for the petitioners, to advance the next date from May 2 to April 11. Mr. Dave said the court should take up the case before the Karnataka Assembly elections scheduled in May this year. Farasat argued that the issue of election bonds raised cardinal and substantial questions of law affecting fair elections, which are essential to democracy and need to be heard by a Bench of at least five Supreme Court judges. The petitions, which have been in limbo for about eight years, allege that the scheme has opened the doors for anonymous donations to political parties days before polls are due. Advocate Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, has argued that amendments made via Finance Acts of 2016 and 2017, both passed as Money Bills, have through the electoral bonds scheme, “opened the floodgates to unlimited political donations”. “The amendments have removed the caps on campaign donations by companies and have legalised anonymous donations. The Finance Act of 2017 has introduced the use of electoral bonds which are exempt from disclosure under the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, opening doors to unchecked, unknown funding to political parties,” Bhushan has argued. The Finance Act, 2016 has also amended the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010, to allow foreign companies with subsidiaries in India to fund political parties in India, effectively, exposing Indian politics and democracy to international lobbyists,” the petitioners have contended. Response received from the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) on January 27 to a Right to Information application filed by Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired) showed that electoral bonds were sold from March 2018 to December 2022 in 24 phases at a total cost of ₹10.23 crore to the taxpayer. The expenses include ₹8.33 crore in bank commission and ₹1.90 crore in printing charges. While ₹6.74 lakh electoral bonds were printed, bonds worth ₹11,699.84 crore were sold, the RTI response showed. This petition has sought the quashing of the November 7, 2022 notification issued by the Finance Ministry amending the electoral bonds scheme. “An additional period of 15 days shall be specified by the Central government in the year of general elections to the Legislative Assembly of States and Union Territories with the legislature,” the gazette notification had said. Earlier, a 30-day extra period for sale was allowed only in Lok Sabha election year. In an earlier hearing in October last year, the court had asked the government whether the electoral bonds system revealed the source of money pumped in to fund political parties even as the Centre had repeatedly maintained that the scheme was “absolutely transparent”. Deletion of name from Interpol notice strengthens Antiguan court’s concerns: Mehul Choksi’s spokesperson The removal of his name from Interpol’s Red Corner Notice list “strengthens” the argument that India tried to “kidnap” fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, a spokesperson has said on his behalf. In a statement to The Hindu, the spokesperson alleged that the Government of India had attempted take Choksi illegally and that the court had received compelling evidence in this regard. “The report from the Antiguan police, and the evidence adduced by Choksi in the ongoing High Court proceedings in Antigua, point to an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government. The decision of Interpol to delete the Red Notice strengthens these concerns,” the spokesperson said in an email sent to The Hindu. The statement came a day after news spread that the Interpol had withdrawn the Red Corner Notice issued against the fugitive jeweller in a loan fraud case in which he is accused of defrauding the Punjab National Bank of ₹13,500 crore. The notice became unavailable from Interpol’s website reportedly after Choksi petitioned the global body. “Moreover, the preliminary ruling of the High Court in Antigua demonstrates that there is a case to answer for a full investigation. In turn, Choksi has presented a compelling case that the Indian government is behind the orchestrated kidnap from Antiguan territory, the torture of Choksi, and the attempt to render him to India in breach of the international rule of law,” the spokesperson’s statement said. Mr. Choksi left India in January 2018 just as the case of fraud was coming to light. Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are both wanted in the case. He subsequently surfaced in Antigua, where he had acquired citizenship even before the scandal came to light. Mr. Choksi was the subject of a dramatic incident in May 2021 when a Hungarian woman, Barbara Jarabic, and two Indian men, Gurmit Singh and Gurjeet Bhandal, allegedly tried to take Choksi forcibly from Antigua to Dominica. He returned to Antigua after a brief period in Dominica, alleging mistreatment and violence by the Indian men and the Dominican authorities. Meanwhile, the CBI on March 21 said it had taken up with the Commission for Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF) the serious shortcomings and the mistakes committed in reaching the “unfounded and perfunctory” decision to remove the Red Notice against fugitive Mehul Choksi. The agency has initiated measures to get the notice restored. The CCF is a separate body within the Interpol that is not under the control of the Interpol Secretariat and is mainly staffed by elected lawyers from different countries, said the agency in a statement. SC asks govt. for data on death by hanging and a possible alternative mode of execution The Supreme Court on March 21 asked the Centre to provide data which may point to a more dignified, less painful and socially acceptable method of executing prisoners other than death by hanging. A Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha even mooted the setting up of an expert committee to relook at India’s method of putting to death its criminals. The Chief Justice said such a committee would have experts from the national law universities, professors of law, doctors and scientific persons. The Court indicated to the Centre, represented by Attorney General R. Venkataramani, that it needed some underlying data based on which it could examine if there was a more “humane” method of execution which would render death by hanging unconstitutional. “If we have to relook death by hanging, we need better data… We want to know the impact of the sentence of death by hanging, the pain caused, the period of actual death and the availability of resources for hanging a person,” Chief Justice Chandrachud observed. The Bench said it also needed to know what strides the fields of science and technology have made in suggesting “any other method of execution consistent with human dignity”. The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Rishi Malhotra challenging the constitutionality of death by hanging as a mode of execution. Section 354 (5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure mandates that a person sentenced to death shall “be hanged by the neck till he is dead”. Malhotra said there is a need to evolve a “humane, quick and decent alternative”. He termed hanging as “cruel and barbarous” compared to lethal injection, as used in the United States. Justice Narasimha, however, noted that there was literature to suggest that “hanging is closest to painless”. “Lethal injection has not always been successful… Question here is what does science have to offer… Question is what is the best method according to science,” Justice Narasimha observed. Chief Justice Chandrachud asked Malhotra if he had gone through “startling” anecdotal research material which shows that “heavy patients” end up “struggling” after the administration of lethal injections in the U.S. “Now, we cannot tell the legislature that method ‘A’ is better than method ‘B’... We can look into any scientific study which shows a method is far less painful and more humane… The burden is on the Union of India to constantly make a study,” the court noted. In 2018, the Centre filed an affidavit supporting death by hanging. It had not found the method of execution “barbaric, inhuman and cruel” compared to firing squads and lethal injections. The government had traced statistics of “botched-up” administration of lethal injections to condemned prisoners in the United States for 110 years to prove its point that this mode of State execution was only “designed to create an appearance of serenity and painless death”. Besides, if known to the public, the lethal chemical would possibly be misused. Likewise, the government had graphically detailed the horrors of death by firing squad. How, if the shots missed the heart, the prisoners slowly bled to death. Hanging with more advanced procedures is far safer than techniques such as lethal injections... the procedure by which a death sentence is to be executed is dependent upon a variety of factors such as economic feasibility, availability of skilled and technical personnel, equipment and resources, rate of botched executions,” the government had said. The Centre had also said the mode of execution is a “matter of legislative policy”. The government said the death penalty is awarded only in the rarest of rare cases. There have been only three executions between 2012 and 2015. The court had earlier clarified that it was not questioning the constitutionality of the death penalty, which was well-settled in Deena versus Union of India judgment and the Bachan Singh case reported in 1980. Shiv Sena’s Muslim supporters staying loyal to Uddhav Thackeray It has been over a month since the Shiv Sena party’s name and symbol was allotted to chief minister Eknath Shinde, but the loyalties of the party’s Muslim supporters seem to be staying with Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray in Mumbai. Even after 40 of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs and 12 of its 19 Lok Sabha MPs have left the Thackeray camp and gone over to the Shinde faction, Muslim supporters say they were and will continue to remain loyal to Thackeray because of his work done during the COVID-19 pandemic and his stand during the protests held against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “We have a relationship with the Thackeray family and that will never change. Let them take Shiv Sena’s name and symbol, that makes no difference to us because Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray is a brand. Just like Bisleri is a brand, so many other brands who sell drinking water have come out in the market but that makes no difference to Bisleri. It is what it is,” says Sharif Shaikh, 55, a co-ordinator at the Shiv Sena shakha (branch) in Nagpada. He outlined the ways in which Thackeray has proved himself to the Muslim community. “Our loyalties are with Uddhav saheb because we have seen the work he did as a Chief Minister during the pandemic. When the Sadhus were killed in Palghar [in April 2020], there was a riot-like situation in Dongri [a Muslim-dominated area], but he calmed everyone down. During all the protests that took place in Mumbai against CAA and NRC, he had categorically said, ‘Till I am the CM, I will not implement these policies.’ During COVID, he was a beacon of humanity never differentiating based on caste and religion. Even Delhi’s CM has praised his work,” Shaikh added. Many burkha-clad women, who are not usually seen walking into public offices alone, are confidently going to shakhas and asking for help. “So many governments have come and gone but it has made no difference to us, and our loyalties will always be with Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena. The kind of work he has done during COVID 19, when cases were at their peak, it is for everyone to see. Even now after the pandemic, Shiv Sainiks continues to help us with whatever we need,” said Rizwana Husna, 43, from Bhindi Bazaar. “I recently went there to get my children’s marksheets attested, they got it done. They have helped us to get beds, assisted us to go about fixing an inflated electricity meter. During the recent outbreak of measles, Sainiks have helped my family and my neighbours get treatment in a time-bound manner,” she added. Dilip Sawant, the shakha pramukh at JJ hospital, explained the philosophy underlying the Thackeray faction’s work. “There has been no difference between the relationship of Muslims with Uddhav saheb. It is because he truly understands what ‘Hindutva’ is, it does not have to be against Muslims,” he said. “Who says that Hindutva means going against another religion? That is Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutva. They teach and spread hatred and want to divide us. Uddhavji walks on the path of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj who takes everyone along with him,” he added. This is not a recent phenomenon, according to Rajya Sabha MP and Uddhav Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who claims that Muslims have been visiting Sena Bhavan and Shiv Sena shakhas since Balasaheb Thackeray’s time. “When Balasaheb Thackeray was alive, Muslims used to visit the Sena Bhavan and his residence Matoshree. The only thing he had said was, if Pakistan wins in a cricket match, no one should celebrate it by bursting crackers, and if anyone does that, he is our enemy. We have never had any conflict with them, except the 1993 riots in Bombay. That too did not happen with Muslims but those who were pro-Pakistanis in Mumbai,” he recalled. “We have had Muslims ministers in our cabinet. Shiv Sena’s office bearers in Mumbai and Maharashtra have been Muslims. There are Shiv Sainik shakas in Muslim areas and many members of legislative assemblies have been elected from Muslim areas. In the 1980s there was a joint rally of Shiv Sena and Union Muslim League,” he added. On March 26, a large rally to be addressed by Thackeray is being planned by Muslims at Malegaon, a Muslim-dominated area in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. All the preparations and logistics are being looked after by the Muslims there, Raut said. In Brief: Israeli lawmakers on Tuesday repealed a 2005 act that saw four Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank dismantled at the same time as Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip. The development could pave the way for an official return to the abandoned West Bank areas and further deepen the crisis. It was the latest move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which is dominated by settler leaders and allies, to promote settlement activity in the territory. The international community, including Israel’s closest ally, the United States, considers settlements illegal and opposes construction on occupied territories claimed by the Palestinians for a future independent state. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 21 March 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Validity of electoral bonds scheme: Supreme Court fixes April 11 to examine whether petitions need to be referred to Constitution Bench The Supreme Court on March 21 [fixed April 11 to examine whether petitions challenging the validity of electoral bonds scheme need to be referred to a Constitution Bench](. A Bench led by Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud was urged by senior advocate Dushyant Dave, advocates Prashant Bhushan, Shadan Farasat and Neha Rathi, all for the petitioners, to advance the next date from May 2 to April 11. Mr. Dave said the court should take up the case before the Karnataka Assembly elections scheduled in May this year. Farasat argued that the issue of election bonds raised cardinal and substantial questions of law affecting fair elections, which are essential to democracy and need to be heard by a Bench of at least five Supreme Court judges. The petitions, which have been in limbo for about eight years, allege that the scheme has opened the doors for anonymous donations to political parties days before polls are due. Advocate Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, has argued that amendments made via Finance Acts of 2016 and 2017, both passed as Money Bills, have through the electoral bonds scheme, “opened the floodgates to unlimited political donations”. “The amendments have removed the caps on campaign donations by companies and have legalised anonymous donations. The Finance Act of 2017 has introduced the use of electoral bonds which are exempt from disclosure under the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, opening doors to unchecked, unknown funding to political parties,” Bhushan has argued. The Finance Act, 2016 has also amended the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010, to allow foreign companies with subsidiaries in India to fund political parties in India, effectively, exposing Indian politics and democracy to international lobbyists,” the petitioners have contended. Response received from the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) on January 27 to a Right to Information application filed by Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired) showed that electoral bonds were sold from March 2018 to December 2022 in 24 phases at a total cost of ₹10.23 crore to the taxpayer. The expenses include ₹8.33 crore in bank commission and ₹1.90 crore in printing charges. While ₹6.74 lakh electoral bonds were printed, bonds worth ₹11,699.84 crore were sold, the RTI response showed. This petition has sought the quashing of the November 7, 2022 notification issued by the Finance Ministry amending the electoral bonds scheme. “An additional period of 15 days shall be specified by the Central government in the year of general elections to the Legislative Assembly of States and Union Territories with the legislature,” the gazette notification had said. Earlier, a 30-day extra period for sale was allowed only in Lok Sabha election year. In an earlier hearing in October last year, the court had asked the government whether the electoral bonds system revealed the source of money pumped in to fund political parties even as the Centre had repeatedly maintained that the scheme was “absolutely transparent”. Deletion of name from Interpol notice strengthens Antiguan court’s concerns: Mehul Choksi’s spokesperson The removal of his name from Interpol’s Red Corner Notice list [“strengthens” the argument that India tried to “kidnap” fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, a spokesperson has said on his behalf](. In a statement to The Hindu, the spokesperson alleged that the Government of India had attempted take Choksi illegally and that the court had received compelling evidence in this regard. [Mehul Choksi.] “The report from the Antiguan police, and the evidence adduced by Choksi in the ongoing High Court proceedings in Antigua, point to an alarming case of state orchestrated kidnap, torture and attempted rendition by the Indian government. The decision of Interpol to delete the Red Notice strengthens these concerns,” the spokesperson said in an email sent to The Hindu. The statement came a day after news spread that the Interpol had withdrawn the Red Corner Notice issued against the fugitive jeweller in a loan fraud case in which he is accused of defrauding the Punjab National Bank of ₹13,500 crore. The notice became unavailable from Interpol’s website reportedly after Choksi petitioned the global body. “Moreover, the preliminary ruling of the High Court in Antigua demonstrates that there is a case to answer for a full investigation. In turn, Choksi has presented a compelling case that the Indian government is behind the orchestrated kidnap from Antiguan territory, the torture of Choksi, and the attempt to render him to India in breach of the international rule of law,” the spokesperson’s statement said. Mr. Choksi left India in January 2018 just as the case of fraud was coming to light. Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are both wanted in the case. He subsequently surfaced in Antigua, where he had acquired citizenship even before the scandal came to light. Mr. Choksi was the subject of a dramatic incident in May 2021 when a Hungarian woman, Barbara Jarabic, and two Indian men, Gurmit Singh and Gurjeet Bhandal, allegedly tried to take Choksi forcibly from Antigua to Dominica. He returned to Antigua after a brief period in Dominica, alleging mistreatment and violence by the Indian men and the Dominican authorities. Meanwhile, the CBI on March 21 said it had taken up with the Commission for Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF) the serious shortcomings and the mistakes committed in reaching the “unfounded and perfunctory” decision to remove the Red Notice against fugitive Mehul Choksi. The agency has initiated measures to get the notice restored. The CCF is a separate body within the Interpol that is not under the control of the Interpol Secretariat and is mainly staffed by elected lawyers from different countries, said the agency in a statement. SC asks govt. for data on death by hanging and a possible alternative mode of execution The Supreme Court on March 21 [asked the Centre to provide data which may point to a more dignified, less painful and socially acceptable method of executing prisoners other than death by hanging](. A Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha even mooted the setting up of an expert committee to relook at India’s method of putting to death its criminals. The Chief Justice said such a committee would have experts from the national law universities, professors of law, doctors and scientific persons. The Court indicated to the Centre, represented by Attorney General R. Venkataramani, that it needed some underlying data based on which it could examine if there was a more “humane” method of execution which would render death by hanging unconstitutional. “If we have to relook death by hanging, we need better data… We want to know the impact of the sentence of death by hanging, the pain caused, the period of actual death and the availability of resources for hanging a person,” Chief Justice Chandrachud observed. The Bench said it also needed to know what strides the fields of science and technology have made in suggesting “any other method of execution consistent with human dignity”. The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Rishi Malhotra challenging the constitutionality of death by hanging as a mode of execution. Section 354 (5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure mandates that a person sentenced to death shall “be hanged by the neck till he is dead”. Malhotra said there is a need to evolve a “humane, quick and decent alternative”. He termed hanging as “cruel and barbarous” compared to lethal injection, as used in the United States. Justice Narasimha, however, noted that there was literature to suggest that “hanging is closest to painless”. “Lethal injection has not always been successful… Question here is what does science have to offer… Question is what is the best method according to science,” Justice Narasimha observed. Chief Justice Chandrachud asked Malhotra if he had gone through “startling” anecdotal research material which shows that “heavy patients” end up “struggling” after the administration of lethal injections in the U.S. “Now, we cannot tell the legislature that method ‘A’ is better than method ‘B’... We can look into any scientific study which shows a method is far less painful and more humane… The burden is on the Union of India to constantly make a study,” the court noted. In 2018, the Centre filed an affidavit supporting death by hanging. It had not found the method of execution “barbaric, inhuman and cruel” compared to firing squads and lethal injections. The government had traced statistics of “botched-up” administration of lethal injections to condemned prisoners in the United States for 110 years to prove its point that this mode of State execution was only “designed to create an appearance of serenity and painless death”. Besides, if known to the public, the lethal chemical would possibly be misused. Likewise, the government had graphically detailed the horrors of death by firing squad. How, if the shots missed the heart, the prisoners slowly bled to death. Hanging with more advanced procedures is far safer than techniques such as lethal injections... the procedure by which a death sentence is to be executed is dependent upon a variety of factors such as economic feasibility, availability of skilled and technical personnel, equipment and resources, rate of botched executions,” the government had said. The Centre had also said the mode of execution is a “matter of legislative policy”. The government said the death penalty is awarded only in the rarest of rare cases. There have been only three executions between 2012 and 2015. The court had earlier clarified that it was not questioning the constitutionality of the death penalty, which was well-settled in Deena versus Union of India judgment and the Bachan Singh case reported in 1980. Shiv Sena’s Muslim supporters staying loyal to Uddhav Thackeray It has been over a month since the Shiv Sena party’s name and symbol was allotted to chief minister Eknath Shinde, but [the loyalties of the party’s Muslim supporters seem to be staying with Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray]( in Mumbai. Even after 40 of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs and 12 of its 19 Lok Sabha MPs have left the Thackeray camp and gone over to the Shinde faction, Muslim supporters say they were and will continue to remain loyal to Thackeray because of his work done during the COVID-19 pandemic and his stand during the protests held against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). [Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.] “We have a relationship with the Thackeray family and that will never change. Let them take Shiv Sena’s name and symbol, that makes no difference to us because Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray is a brand. Just like Bisleri is a brand, so many other brands who sell drinking water have come out in the market but that makes no difference to Bisleri. It is what it is,” says Sharif Shaikh, 55, a co-ordinator at the Shiv Sena shakha (branch) in Nagpada. He outlined the ways in which Thackeray has proved himself to the Muslim community. “Our loyalties are with Uddhav saheb because we have seen the work he did as a Chief Minister during the pandemic. When the Sadhus were killed in Palghar [in April 2020], there was a riot-like situation in Dongri [a Muslim-dominated area], but he calmed everyone down. During all the protests that took place in Mumbai against CAA and NRC, he had categorically said, ‘Till I am the CM, I will not implement these policies.’ During COVID, he was a beacon of humanity never differentiating based on caste and religion. Even Delhi’s CM has praised his work,” Shaikh added. Many burkha-clad women, who are not usually seen walking into public offices alone, are confidently going to shakhas and asking for help. “So many governments have come and gone but it has made no difference to us, and our loyalties will always be with Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena. The kind of work he has done during COVID 19, when cases were at their peak, it is for everyone to see. Even now after the pandemic, Shiv Sainiks continues to help us with whatever we need,” said Rizwana Husna, 43, from Bhindi Bazaar. “I recently went there to get my children’s marksheets attested, they got it done. They have helped us to get beds, assisted us to go about fixing an inflated electricity meter. During the recent outbreak of measles, Sainiks have helped my family and my neighbours get treatment in a time-bound manner,” she added. Dilip Sawant, the shakha pramukh at JJ hospital, explained the philosophy underlying the Thackeray faction’s work. “There has been no difference between the relationship of Muslims with Uddhav saheb. It is because he truly understands what ‘Hindutva’ is, it does not have to be against Muslims,” he said. “Who says that Hindutva means going against another religion? That is Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutva. They teach and spread hatred and want to divide us. Uddhavji walks on the path of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj who takes everyone along with him,” he added. This is not a recent phenomenon, according to Rajya Sabha MP and Uddhav Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who claims that Muslims have been visiting Sena Bhavan and Shiv Sena shakhas since Balasaheb Thackeray’s time. “When Balasaheb Thackeray was alive, Muslims used to visit the Sena Bhavan and his residence Matoshree. The only thing he had said was, if Pakistan wins in a cricket match, no one should celebrate it by bursting crackers, and if anyone does that, he is our enemy. We have never had any conflict with them, except the 1993 riots in Bombay. That too did not happen with Muslims but those who were pro-Pakistanis in Mumbai,” he recalled. “We have had Muslims ministers in our cabinet. Shiv Sena’s office bearers in Mumbai and Maharashtra have been Muslims. There are Shiv Sainik shakas in Muslim areas and many members of legislative assemblies have been elected from Muslim areas. In the 1980s there was a joint rally of Shiv Sena and Union Muslim League,” he added. On March 26, a large rally to be addressed by Thackeray is being planned by Muslims at Malegaon, a Muslim-dominated area in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. All the preparations and logistics are being looked after by the Muslims there, Raut said. In Brief: [Israeli lawmakers on Tuesday repealed a 2005 act]( that saw four Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank dismantled at the same time as Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip. The development could pave the way for an official return to the abandoned West Bank areas and further deepen the crisis. It was the latest move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which is dominated by settler leaders and allies, to promote settlement activity in the territory. The international community, including Israel’s closest ally, the United States, considers settlements illegal and opposes construction on occupied territories claimed by the Palestinians for a future independent state. 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