The Israeli parliament on Wednesday passed the first reading of a bill requiring a referendum to approve a pullout from annexed east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as part of any peace deal. Sixty-eight voted in favour, 22 against and one abstained. Another 31 MPs were absent from the 120-seat parliament.
The government-backed bill, which still needs to pass a second and third reading before becoming law, is seen as a boost to those opposing Israel's withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights under a future peace deal with Syria. The bill requires that any peace agreement reached between the Israeli government which entails an Israeli withdrawal from annexed territories must first be approved by a 61-MP majority in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset.
If approved in parliament, the agreement will have to be put to a national referendum within 80 days. The bill concerns the strategic Golan plateau and east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed, in moves not recognised by the international community. Syria has repeatedly demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan in exchange for peace and the Palestinians want to make east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.