Israeli Parliament Approves Law Cementing Hold On Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli parliament passed into law Monday a bill sponsored by the right-wing opposition to cement the Jewish state's hold on Jerusalem, the holy city coveted by both Israel and the Palestinians.
According to the new law, any change to Jerusalem's municipal borders and the transfer of areas inside to a "foreign element" would need the approval of an absolute majority in parliament, or 61 votes.
The bill, in its third and last reading, was approved by 84 out of 120 MPs, including those from Prime Minister Ehud Barak's Labor Party.
Nineteen deputies voted against the measure.
The fate of Jerusalem - which is holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims - is one of the most divisive issues standing in the way of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians to end decades of conflict.
Israel claims the entire city as its capital, while the Palestinians want to make the eastern part of Jerusalem - captured and annexed by Israel in 1967 - the capital of a future state.
Proposed by Ariel Sharon's Likud party, the bill will impede future Israeli concessions on the status of Jerusalem for a final peace accord with the Palestinians.
During negotiations at Camp David in July, Barak is said to have been willing to discuss the transfer of some Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority denounced the controversial bill after previous readings, and insisted that east Jerusalem would one day become its capital.
