Hours after the Israeli regime’s parliament approved new obstacles to a land-for-peace deal with the Palestinians, left-wing activists took some solace on Tuesday in a decision by right-wing lawmakers to jettison one part of their plan.
The move came around 3am, when members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime stripped from a bill they were about to enact language that would have made it easier to exclude Palestinians from the map of occupied Jerusalem.
The decision was tactical, not philosophical.
The provision removed from the bill would have allowed the municipal map of occupied Jerusalem to be redrawn without a parliamentary vote on the new boundaries. That, in turn, would have smoothed the way for a proposal to exclude from the city several densely populated Palestinian neighbourhoods that are outside the security wall the regime has erected.
