1/3/2018 New Israeli law would make it harder to divide Jerusalem - The Hindu

INTERNATIONAL

New Israeli law would make it harder to divide Jerusalem

AP
JERUSALEM:, JANUARY 02, 2018 19:47 IST
UPDATED: JANUARY 02, 2018 20:10 IST

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the legislation “tantamount to declaring

war on the Palestinian people.”

Israel’s parliament passed a law on Tuesday requiring a supermajority to relinquish control

over any part of Jerusalem, a move that could hamstring the city’s division in any future peace
deal.

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1/3/2018 New Israeli law would make it harder to divide Jerusalem - The Hindu

The amendment bars the government from ceding Israeli sovereignty over any part of
Jerusalem without approval of at least 80 of the legislature’s 120 members. But the law itself
can be overturned with a simple majority, making it largely symbolic.
The law also permits the government to remove outlying Palestinian neighborhoods from the
city, a move promoted by hard-liners to preserve Jerusalem’s Jewish majority. They would be
turned into separate municipalities under Israeli control.
The Knesset approved the legislation in a 64-52 vote early Tuesday, with opposition politicians
saying it would make it even harder to make peace with the Palestinians.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem, which Israel
captured in the 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally, to be the
capital of their future state. Tensions rose after President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem to
be Israel’s capital last month, breaking with decades of U.S. policy and an international
consensus that the city’s status should be decided in peace negotiations.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the legislation “tantamount to declaring war on
the Palestinian people.”
“This vote clearly indicates that the Israeli side has officially declared the end of the so-called
political process and has already begun to impose dictatorial and de facto policies,” Abbas’s
office said in a statement.
The amendment came just days after the ruling Likud party’s central committee called for the
annexation of West Bank settlements.
The steering body’s decision was symbolic, but indicative of the prevailing opinion of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, which is opposed to the internationally-backed concept
of a two-state solution. The Palestinians condemned that decision and accused Mr. Trump of
emboldening the Likud party.

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