KNESSET PASSES IMPORTANT REFERENDUM BILL

A positive step's been made in the Israeli public's favor:

After years of feeling betrayed by the legislative process, settlers on Tuesday quietly celebrated the Knesset’s passage late the previous night of the National Referendum Law, which they believe will make it much harder to create a Palestinian state.

“This is very good news, because we know that an overwhelming majority of Israelis oppose a Palestinian state and the evacuation of settlements,” said Naftali Bennett, the director- general of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

[...]

Until Monday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had to bring any peace deal that involved relinquishing sovereign Israeli territory to the Knesset, where it needed an absolute majority of 61 to pass.

But as of Monday night, according to the National Referendum Law, which Netanyahu himself supported, he would need 80 MKs to ratify any diplomatic agreement that involved giving away sovereign Israeli territory.

As you can expect, there's those who don't like the new law, like Peace Now, and even Mahmoud Abbas:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday condemned as an obstacle to peace the new law requiring the approval of 80 MKs or a national referendum before any Israeli withdrawal from east Jerusalem or the Golan Heights.

“This law is aimed at placing obstacles in front of a peace settlement,” Abbas told reporters in Ramallah, where he inaugurated a new headquarters for the PLO. “The Israelis are telling the world that they won’t withdraw from Jerusalem and the Golan.”

And the Muslims are telling us they will never recognize our legitimacy.