The law, which was passed by a vote of 65 to 33 on Monday, calls for putting any treaty involving a withdrawal from occupied land to a public vote, in the event that Israel's parliament has not approved the deal in question by a two-thirds majority. It would cover any agreements involving a pullback from occupied land – occupied East Jerusalem, or the Syrian Golan Heights.
"Any peace agreement demands a broad national agreement and this law provides this," a statement from Netanyahu’s office said after the vote. "The Israel public is involved, informed and responsible and I trust that on the day of decision they would back a peace agreement that answers the national interests, security needs of the state of Israel," he said, according to the statement.
The vote was on an amendment to existing legislation passed in January 1999 in the final days of Netanyahu's previous government. That legislation has the same basic premise but fails to spell out the mechanism for a referendum, which has never been held in Israel before.
Tzipi Livni, the opposition leader whose Kadima party commands 28 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, ordered her members of parliament to vote against the amendment.
"We have here a weak prime minister for whom it is convenient that he is hindered," the Ynet website quoted her as saying. "We’re not talking here about a desire to listen to the will of the people but about setting up a veto on decisions of the government."
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