by Gideon Allon
Proposed legislation would make the division of the capital contingent on the support of an 80-MK supermajority
New amendment to basic law
would make it harder to concede parts of Jerusalem
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Photo credit: Dudi Vaaknin  |
New legislation requiring a special, 80-MK
supermajority to approve any future concessions that would divide
Jerusalem passed its first plenum vote (a preliminary reading) on
Wednesday.
The bill, known as the united Jerusalem bill
was first reported by Israel Hayom about a month ago. It is in the form
of an amendment to the 1980 Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel.
The current basic law states that jurisdiction
over Jerusalem may not be "transferred, temporarily or permanently, to a
foreign body, whether political, governmental or to any other similar
type of foreign body." Under the current wording, any change to this
clause is contingent on the support of a majority comprising at least 61
MKs. If finalized, the new amendment would increase that number to at
least 80 MKs (two-thirds of Knesset members).
"Given our past experience of two prime
ministers who tried to divide Jerusalem under a dangerous peace
agreement, we need to pre-empt any attack on Israel's capital," the
bill's chief sponsor, MK Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli (Habayit Hayehudi), said
earlier this month.
On Wednesday, Mualem-Rafaeli said that "Israel
will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem
as its capital."
Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Zeev
Elkin (Likud) said on Wednesday that although the "current law does make
it hard to divide Jerusalem, it is best to pass the new bill to make it
even harder in the future."
Basic laws in Israel have been recognized by the courts as the state's de facto constitution.
Basic laws in Israel have been recognized by the courts as the state's de facto constitution.
Gideon Allon
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=43985
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