MK Gideon Sa'ar
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin
New bill calls for special Knesset majority in all matters Jerusalem
Likud chairman files motion to amend Jerusalem law, calls for 80-MK majority for any proposed changes in city limits. 'Jerusalem has special meaning to the Jewish people, Knesset obligated to protect it," he says
MK Gideon Sa'ar, chairman of the Likud faction, filed a motion to amend Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel, Tuesday.
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The amendment calls for a required 80-MK majority in the Knesset for any proposed changes to the city's borders instead of the 61-MK majority that the statute currently calls for.
The catalyst for the proposal is likely the recently resurged debate regarding the possibility of dividing Jerusalem and ceding control over parts of the city as part of a possible final peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
According to the current law, Jerusalem's city limits were determined on June 28, 1967 and no foreign body or authority could ever assume sovereignty over any part of it. The proposed amendment, said Sa'ar, will assure the city's eternal unity and its residents' safety.
"Jerusalem's stature and historical significance for the Jewish people is unparalleled and generations have sworn to uphold its unity.
"When it appears as though there are those who would seek to erode at the very foundation of our existence as a nation, the Knesset must do everything it can to stop it. Any motion to divide the city must require a special majority," said Sa'ar.
The amendment, he added, would also have implications regarding national security as "a division of the city may turn it from the capital of Israel to the capital of Mideast terror."
