Israeli Knesset Passes Referendum Bill

Tuesday November 23, 2010 10:51 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

With a majority of 65 votes in favor and 33 opposing, the Israeli occupation government so-called parliament (Knesset in Hebrew) passed the Referendum Bill in the second and third readings, thus requiring a public majority referendum vote and the votes of 60 members of Knesset in order to approve any withdrawal from occupied Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that among the Knesset members who voted for the bill were 26 members of the Likud Party, eleven members of Shas, thirteen of Yisrael Beiteinu, seven of the National Union and the “Jewish Home” Habayit Hayehudi, three members of the Labor party and three members of the United Torah Judaism.

Haaretz added that Labor members of Knesset, Ehud Barak, Yitzhak Herzog, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Avishai Braverman did not attend the vote.
All Arab members of Knesset, all MK’s of the Meretz movement in addition to five MK’s of the Labor party voted against the bill.

The newly passed law stated that should Israel reach a peace deal with Syria or the Palestinian leadership, regarding a withdrawal from the Golan Heights or Jerusalem, it must first be passed by the government with approval of at least 61 members of Knesset, and then a public referendum must be held to approve or reject the move.

Arab member of Knesset, Dr. Jamal Zahalka, stated that this new law is illegal and unprecedented in history, and explained that “throughout history, occupied nations held referenda to determine their future and self-determination, while in Israel the occupiers are the ones who are holding referenda to determine the fate and the future of occupied nations”.

Dr. Zahalka added that the Knesset is not entitled to determine the fate of Jerusalem or the Golan Heights as the two areas are under occupation, “therefore International Law must be applied, and not the Israeli law; Jerusalem and the Golan are not an internal Israel issue to be determined by the Knesset”, he said.

“This law is a clear message in which Israel is stating that it does not want a settlement to the conflict, and does not want peace”, Dr. Zahalka added, “Only idiots will be negotiating with Israel because this law voids any chances of a peace deal, it closes all paths of peace, this law is a grave to any agreement as it does not only bind the current Israeli government, but also binds and limits the options of any future government”.

Palestinians slam Israeli referendum law

Published today (updated) 23/11/2010 14:45 JERUSALEM (Ma’an) --

Palestinian leaders in Israel and the West Bank slammed Monday, the passing of a bill by the Israeli occupation government so-called parliament (Knesset in Hebrew), mandating a national referendum ahead of any pullout from zones occupied by Israel, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Palestinian citizen of Israel and member of the Knesset Jamal Zahalqa called the law “an Israeli invention which is unprecedented in world history,” while chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said with the passing of the bill “the Israeli leadership, yet again, is making a mockery of international law.”

Both leaders saw the inclusion of the Israeli public in a decision about the fate of occupied Arab areas, at the exclusion of the local population in most cases, as an affront to the norms of law.

“In cases of occupation, people under occupation are invited to participate in a referendum to decide their fate and future and this happened several times last century, but the Israeli law talks about asking the occupying people to decide on the fate of the occupied lands and the fate of the people under occupation,” Zahalqa commented in a statement issued shortly after the bill passed.

“The Knesset has no right to decide the future of Jerusalem or the Golan Heights because they are occupied according to the international law,” he added, noting the areas are “not an Israeli internal affair.”
Zahalqa, like Erekat, said the law was a “clear message that Israel does not want to reach a settlement or peace.”
Reaching a peace deal will be more difficult now that the law has been passed, Zahalqa said.

Erekat slammed the idea that occupation would be “subject to the whims of Israeli public opinion.”

He, like Zahalqa, stressed the precedents of international law, saying “there is a clear and absolute obligation on Israel to withdraw not only from East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, but from all of the territories that it has occupied since 1967. Ending the occupation of our land is not and cannot be dependent on any sort of referendum.”

Erakat continued, “This is Israel’s attempt to veil its oppression of the Palestinian people as an exercise of Israeli democracy. Ending the occupation and freeing the Palestinian people would be the purest expression of democratic values. The international community’s answer to this bill should be a worldwide recognition of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

The law, which had the backing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passed with 65 lawmakers in favour and 33 against in a late night vote. There were no abstentions.

Under the new legislation any government signing a peace agreement ceding the annexed territories of east Jerusalem or the Golan, or any other sovereign territory within Israel itself, would be unable to implement the treaty without the approval of parliament and a national referendum.

It would not affect territorial concessions within the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, which Israel has not annexed.

Israeli MPs to vote on Golan referendum bill

Published yesterday (updated) 23/11/2010 03:36 JERUSALEM (AFP) --

 The Israeli occupation government so-called parliament was on Monday to vote on a bill requiring a national referendum be held before any withdrawal from occupied east Jerusalem or the Golan Heights, a spokesman said.

"The text will be discussed on Monday and put to its second and third readings before the Knesset in order to be definitely adopted," parliamentary spokesman Giora Pordes told AFP.

The session was to open at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) with the draft bill likely to pass easily, Israeli press and radio reports said. The deliberations were expected to continue well into the evening.

Under terms of the bill, any move to withdraw from territories annexed by Israel after the 1967 Middle East war must first be approved by the Knesset, then put to a national referendum within the following six months.

But if such a move won an overwhelming majority of more than two thirds in the 120-member Knesset, there would be no need to put it to a referendum.

East Jerusalem was annexed shortly after the 1967 war, while the Golan Heights was formally annexed in 1981.

The bill, which was tabled by Yariv Levin, an MP with the rightwing Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passed its first reading on October 11. Should it pass Monday's vote, it will become law.

Any pullout from Arab east Jerusalem would only occur as part of a peace deal, but talks between Israel and the Palestinians are currently suspended over a dispute about Jewish settlement building.

Similarly, any withdrawal from the Golan Heights was only likely to take place within the framework of a peace deal with Syria, but both countries remain technically at war and there are no talks under way.