A law which would limit the government’s ability to divide the capital in any future final status agreement with the Palestinian Authority was approved in its first vote Wednesday afternoon.
The Jerusalem Law, which was proposed by the Jewish Home, would require a supermajority of two-thirds of the entire Knesset, or 80 MKs, to approve any partition of the city.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) and MK Shuli Mualem Rafali drafted the bill, which gained backing from the coalition on Sunday.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Netanyahu vetoed a similar bill, following objections from the Jerusalem Affairs Ministry over an alleged failure to consult with the ministry and Minister Zeev Elkin (Likud) over the drafting of the bill.
After the vote, MK Mualem Rafali said passage of the law would ensure that the city forever remains in Israeli hands.
“Really get this into your head,” Mualem Rafali said the Arab MKs, “Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish people and will always remain the capital of the Jewish people.”
After making her pronouncement in Hebrew, the Jewish Home MK then repeated it in Arabic.
Mualem Rafali added that this was a unique opportunity to preserve the capital’s unity that must not be squandered.
“Given our experience in the past, and in light of the current coalition makeup, we have an obligation to defend from any possible future [negotiating] process. Even if there is no threat to the unity of Jerusalem in the immediate future, past experience has taught us that there are surprises.”
Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin praised Wednesday’s vote, saying the law would protect “Jerusalem’s status as the united capital of Israel, and make it very difficult for anyone in the future who would dare to divide it.”