The opponents argued that Britain does not apply similar criminal penalties to property purchases in other disputed territories. By Vered Weiss, World Israel NewsA debate in the U.K. Parliament on Monday focused on a proposal to criminalize the purchase of land in Judea and Samaria, with supporters arguing the settlements are illegal under international law and several peers challenging the proposal as discriminatory and legally inconsistent.Baroness Jennifer Chapman of Darlington advocated criminalizing such property transactions, saying the settlements are illegal under international law.Lord Martin John Callanan of the Conservative Party opposed the proposal, arguing that Britain does not apply similar criminal penalties to property purchases in other disputed territories.He questioned why the West Bank should be treated differently, saying the proposal could extend to Area C, which remains under full Israeli control under the Oslo Accords, and affect British Jews purchasing homes in Jerusalem.“My Lords, we do not criminalize British citizens for buying property in disputed territories anywhere else in the world,” he said. “Why should the West Bank be singled out, particularly when such a measure could even extend to Area C, which is under full Israeli control under the Oslo Accords, and would criminalize British Jews for purchasing a home in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem?”Callanan also questioned whether territorial disputes should be addressed through domestic criminal law rather than by governments and international legal mechanisms.“Is not the status of disputed territory ultimately a matter for states and international law rather than something to be determined through domestic criminal law applied to individual purchases?” he said.Lord Stuart Polak, also a Conservative, criticized what he described as a double standard in the debate. He agreed with comments made earlier by Baroness Helic and Baroness Deech and questioned why similar restrictions were not being considered for British citizens purchasing property in Northern Cyprus.“I appreciate the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, giving way, because the debate has been one-sided. The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, was right: the double standards on show are staggering,” he said.Polak said the proposal would promote “the deeply antisemitic notion that Judea and Samaria — an area, I remind the House, that remained under Israeli administration throughout the Oslo Accords — should be ethnically cleansed of its Jews.”Baroness Deech also questioned the proposal, asking: “What about British citizens who holiday or buy a property in illegally occupied Northern Cyprus? Or is the aim simply to target Jews? If this were implemented, which I am sure it will not be, in what way could it possibly contribute to lasting peace?”The post UK peers clash over proposal to criminalize land purchases in Judea and Samaria appeared first on World Israel News.