MK Miri Regev
MK Miri RegevIsrael news photo: Flash 90

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday voted down MK Miri Regev’s (Likud) bill that called for Israel to annex all of Judea and Samaria.

Only the two ministers from the Jewish Home who are on the committee, Uri Ariel and Uri Orbach, voted in favor of the proposal.

The remaining members of the 13-member committee all voted against the bill. These include four ministers from Regev’s Likud party: Gideon Saar, Gilad Erdan, Limor Livnat and Yuval Steinitz.

Regev announced last week that she intends to bring forward the bill that would have Israel apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. She made the announcement at the “Mothers’ Vigil” which was established outside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's residence.

Regev’s bill stipulated that the state would no longer be able to impose a limit on construction in Judea and Samaria for political reasons, unless this limit is approved by the Knesset.

In the explanatory notes that accompanied the bill, Regev said that its purpose is to prepare Israel for the possible scenario of a unilateral announcement by the Palestinian Authority that it has established a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.

"It is fitting that Israel remove itself of responsibility and control of the Palestinian communities in Judea and Samaria, and yet not abandon communities in these areas where there is a Jewish majority,” she wrote.

Speaking after the Ministerial Committee rejected the bill, Regev expressed disappointment that "ministers from the Jewish Home supported the bill and ministers from the Likud voted against it, although the law is part of the constitution of the Likud."

“It is disappointing to find out that even when the Likud is in power someone else is running it. I will continue to fight for the wholeness of the land and the wholeness of the people of Israel,” she added.

Regev was recently successful in passing a bill that would annex the Jordan Valley and place it under full Israeli sovereignty. The bill passed in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, despite objection by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who attacked the ministers who voted for the bill, and called it “an irresponsible proposal that will harm Israel and isolate it.”

At the same time, the bill has since been frozen because Livni, who heads the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, filed an appeal against it.

A second bill submitted by Regev did not pass the committee. The bill would forbid the prime minister to carry out diplomatic negotiations on the status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, or on the so-called Arab “refugee” issue, unless the Knesset gives him permission to do so ahead of time.