Netanyahu delays vote on bill annexing Greater Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed on Saturday an initial vote on the Greater Jerusalem bill, after some of his coalition partners opposed it and the US appeared to frown on it, Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post reported.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs had intended to vote Sunday on the bill, which would shore up the Jewish vote in Jerusalem by annexing 19 settlements to the capital.

Sources said the legislation needed “diplomatic preparation and has therefore been rejected for the moment.”

News of the delay came two days after Washington publicly indicated that it could be opposed to the bill.

A number of coalition politicians have also spoken out against the legislation.

Its passage had earlier appeared certain, because Netanyahu pledged earlier this month to support it. He has been under pressure to approve the legislation from members of his own party and Bayit Yehudi.

The bill, authored by MK Yoav Kisch (Likud), was originally intended to annex 19 settlements to Jerusalem. The draft language has now been toned down so that the legislation would annex the Jewish communities to Jerusalem, but not to sovereign Israel.

At its most basic level, the bill would give 150,000 settlers the right to vote in municipal elections.

The 19 settlements would simultaneously maintain their own independent governing bodies by becoming sub-municipalities of Jerusalem.

Opponents of the legislation argue that even though it now focuses more narrowly on Jerusalem’s voting demographics, it is still tantamount to annexation.

“My understanding is that piece of legislation is in the early stages of development,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Thursday.

She added that the US did not want to comment on the internal debate around the legislation.

“I know that it has to go through several steps before it would even become law,” Nauert said.

But as a general comment, she said, “We continue to encourage both sides to take appropriate actions to ease tensions and build an environment that would support concluding a conflict-ending peace agreement.”

Source: MENA