Bennett says united Jerusalem is ‘basis of peace’

Jewish Home leader Education Minister Naftali Bennett touts his right-wing party as the “backbone of the government” as he hails his party’s bill, submitted Sunday, that would require a steep two-thirds majority in the Knesset for any decision to divide Jerusalem in a future peace deal with the Palestinians.

At the start of Jewish Home’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Bennett says his party has repeatedly set the government’s agenda, pointing to his efforts to draw attention to the cross-border Gaza tunnels in 2014 and the so-called Regulation Law that requires the retroactive legalization of wildcat West Bank outposts.

“The basis of peace is a unified Jerusalem,” he says. “it’s important the world know that a unified Jerusalem is the starting point, so that we avoid a lot of misunderstandings.”

He also addresses concerns raised by settler leaders that building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has been stalled by the Netanyahu government.

“We are working with the prime minister to free up construction in the State of Israel,” he adds.

— Marissa Newman