Israel to postpone vote on controversial ‘annexation’ bill
TEL AVIV: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to postpone a vote on a controversial bill that critics say would amount to the de facto annexation of Israeli settlements surrounding Jerusalem, an official said on Saturday.
The bill had been expected to be voted on by a ministerial committee yesterday, in a move that would fasttrack its progress through Parliament.
But the Israeli official said the bill needed “diplomatic preparation”, declining to elaborate further.
It was a signal that Netanyahu wanted to first discuss the bill with the United States White House, which had been seeking to restart long-stalled IsraeliPalestinian peace talks.
“The law also needs diplomatic preparation and thus will be postponed for the moment,” the official said.
The bill would absorb major Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank into Jerusalem by enlarging the city limits.
Its opponents argued that it was a step towards full unilateral annexation of the West Bank settlements affected — a move that would spark international outrage.
Intelligence and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, who pushed for the bill, said it would add 150,000 people to Jerusalem’s population, strengthening its Jewish majority. AFP