Israel plans to retroactively authorize thousands of settler homes across Judea and Samaria whose legal status is in question, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
The move followed two deadly shooting attacks in Samaria this week, which claimed the lives of two soldiers and an infant.
Some of the homes slated for a status change were built decades ago in what Netanyahu office has called "good faith."
"Arranging the rights for the homes allows thousands of residents to be provided with infrastructure of public buildings, educational and religious buildings," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
Netanyahu has reportedly ordered Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to make arrangements for construction of 82 new homes in Ofra, the scene of one of this week's attacks, as well as two new industrial parks in the area.
"They [Palestinian terrorists] think they can drive us out of our land. They will fail," Netanyahu stated.
The move coincided with Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich's plan to present the Ministerial Committee on Legislation a bill calling for the retroactive authorization of 66 outposts in Judea and Samaria.
The committee is set to vote on the bill on Sunday. If passed, pursuing the move would fall to a special task force the government set up in mid-2017 to handle the legalization of Judea and Samaria outposts.
The task force, headed by former Yesha Council head Pinchas Wallerstein, was given an annual budget of 10 million shekels ($2.7 million) and three years to regulate the issue, but it has yet to begin its work, mostly because none of the positions on it have been staffed.
With elections looming, many in the Right are concerned that the efforts invested in changing the status of illegal outposts would go to waste.
Smotrich's bill seeks to set a two-year timetable in which the matter would be settled.
Officials with the settlement enterprise called on lawmakers to support the bill.
"This legislation will allow the residents to lead normal lives and access municipal services in full," Hebron Regional Council head Yochai Damari told Israel Hayom.
Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shlomo Ne'eman noted that "these outposts were all created with the Israeli governments' encouragement and funding. We urge lawmakers to put an end to discrimination [with respect to municipal services]."
Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Gantz called the bill "a just and moral legislative proposal."
Netanyahu's announcement further coincided with a plan promoted by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, which has been approved by Mendelblit, that would essentially legalize over 2,000 public buildings and in Judea and Samaria through changes to the zoning laws.
The move is currently pending a review by the Defense Ministry.
"This is a real boon for the settlement enterprise after years of stagnation. This is also a proper Zionist response to the brutal murders of the past few days," Shaked said.
