The Knesset’s passage of a law that requires two-thirds of its members to approve any future transfer of land in Jerusalem to a foreign entity is “equivalent to a declaration of war on the Palestinian people,” Nabil Abu Rudeinah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman, said on Tuesday.
Late Monday night, the Knesset passed the law, with 62 lawmakers voting in favor of it and 52 against it. While many of the law’s backers hope it will make it more difficult to divide Jerusalem as a part of a future peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, only a simple majority vote of 61 lawmakers is needed to amend it.
“The Israeli Knesset’s vote on the united Jerusalem law is equivalent to a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and its political and religious identity,” Abu Rudeinah said in a statement published on the official PA news agency Wafa. “This vote clearly indicates that the Israeli side has officially declared the end of what is called the political process and has begun imposing a policy of dictates.”
