Committee chair cancels Knesset vote on advancing Jerusalem amendment

A Knesset committee chairman cancels a vote to advance a bill that would make it harder to withdraw from parts of Jerusalem in a new peace deal, Israel Radio reports.

The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee voted earlier today to approve an amendment to the Basic Law: Jerusalem that would require the approval of 80 MKs — or two-thirds of the Knesset — for the handover of any part of the capital to a future Palestinian state.

The vote set up the bill for its first of three votes in the Knesset plenum, which was scheduled to take place tomorrow.

But opposition lawmakers, led by Zionist Union’s Merav Michaeli, complained that the amendment was brought to a vote in the committee on a single day’s notice, preventing any serious debate.

The committee chairman, MK Nissan Slomiansky of the Jewish Home party that authored the bill, accepted the opposition’s complaint and canceled Tuesday’s vote.

The committee will vote again on Wednesday, then the bill is slated to face its first reading in the plenum later in the day.