The Israeli Parliament gave preliminary approval on Wednesday to a bill intended to hinder any division of Jerusalem in a future deal with the Palestinians. The vote came as Israel’s rightist and religious parties started positioning themselves before an American-sponsored peace gathering expected to take place in Annapolis, Md., this month.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he plans to negotiate with the Palestinians after Annapolis on the core issues relating to a two-state solution, including security issues, borders, refugees and the status of Jerusalem.
The newspaper Haaretz reported Wednesday that, before Annapolis, Israel would announce a freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank and declare its willingness to dismantle illegal West Bank settlement outposts.
Such a move would probably help persuade Saudi Arabia, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, to attend the meeting. Saudi officials have indicated that they would be more likely to attend if Israel first shows some sign of what they see as serious intent.
The Jerusalem bill, by more than 20 rightist and religious lawmakers, has a long way to go before it becomes law, having to pass through a committee and three votes in the full Parliament first. But if the governing coalition does not oppose it — and it has not so far — it has a good chance.
Israel conquered the eastern part of Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has greatly extended the city limits to the north, south and east, annexing several Palestinian villages and building large new Jewish neighborhoods beyond the pre-1967 lines.
The Palestinians claim all of East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, and most of the world does not recognize Israeli sovereignty there. But in 1980 Parliament passed a basic law stating that “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel.”
The new bill proposes an amendment, stipulating that any change in the city’s status would require approval by two-thirds of the 120-seat legislature, or 80 votes, instead of a simple majority of 61. In a country without a constitution, the basic laws have more weight than other laws.
Gideon Saar, a Likud lawmaker who was among the bill’s sponsors, said its preliminary passage, “two weeks before the Annapolis conference, sends an important and clear signal to the entire international community that all of the people of Israel and Parliament oppose concessions in Jerusalem.”
For Mr. Olmert, the issue is complicated and sensitive. Senior members of his coalition voted in favor of the proposed bill on Wednesday, as did four members of his own centrist Kadima Party. Mr. Olmert and most senior members of his party did not attend the vote, which passed 54 to 24.
Speaking in Parliament a month ago, Mr. Olmert implied that he would be ready to give up some outlying Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.
“Was it necessary to also add the Shuafat refugee camp, Sawakhra, Walaje and other villages to Jerusalem and define them as part of Jerusalem?” he said, referring to parts of the city Israel absorbed in 1967. “I must therefore admit it is possible to raise legitimate questions.”
But an opposition politician, Mohammad Barakeh, an Israeli Arab lawmaker from the leftist Hadash Party, accused Mr. Olmert of colluding with the rightist opposition to put up obstacles to a negotiated agreement. “Not only did the government not announce its position on this bill, but it also allowed members of the coalition to vote freely,” he said in a statement.
The basic law on Jerusalem does not define its borders. Already, some Palestinian areas, like the village of Kufr Aqab, have been left outside the West Bank security barrier, which Israel says is necessary to stop suicide bombers.
Avigdor Lieberman, a strongly nationalist minister in Mr. Olmert’s coalition, voted for the bill. He has stated that the Old City of Jerusalem and the areas surrounding it should remain under full Israeli sovereignty, but he has also announced his readiness to swap some Palestinian areas on the periphery of the city for West Bank Jewish settlements, in the context of a permanent status deal.
Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Mr. Olmert, did not confirm or deny the Haaretz report about a possible freeze on settlement construction but said “Israel and the Palestinians have reiterated their commitment” to carrying out the first stage of the so-called road map, a long-dormant 2003 plan for peace, which, Ms. Eisin noted, calls for a settlement freeze.
The first stage of the road map requires the Palestinians to build institutions and act to halt all violence against Israelis. It calls on Israel to freeze all settlement construction and “immediately” dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001.
Israel’s foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, on Wednesday gave an answer similar to Ms. Eisin’s on the settlement issue at a news conference with Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief.
It is not clear whether Israel will agree to freeze construction in the settlement blocs it intends to keep under any territorial agreement.
But a senior Western diplomat involved in the peace efforts, who was speaking on condition of anonymity because of the delicate negotiations to come, said it was “very, very important for something to happen” regarding a settlement freeze. That, he said, would encourage high-level Saudi attendance at Annapolis and give the meeting added legitimacy.
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