News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Knesset House Committee will convene after the parliament's spring recess to advance a bill requiring a national referendum before any concessions are made to Syria in the Golan Heights.

House Committee chairman David Tal – himself a member of the ruling Kadima party – made the announcement in response to Syrian reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had relayed messages to Damascus in which he said that he would be willing to give up the entire Golan in return for peace. The bill, originally sponsored by former Kadima MK Avigdor Yitzhaki, has passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum.

"We have to prevent political thievery that would result in abdicating the Golan," Tal said. "A withdrawal from the Golan would result in Hizbullah terrorists' entering the area and embittering the lives of the residents of northern Israel."