BREAKING NEWS

New bill to require Knesset vote for future building freezes

Hours after reassuring a Knesset conference on the West Bank building moratorium that “the Likud faction will never vote to extend the building freeze," MK Carmel Shama (Likud) submitted a bill Monday that would require that the Knesset approve any future building freeze.
Shama, together with co-sponsor MK Uri Ariel (National Union), said that they would request that the bill be exempted from any waiting period between readings. They said the Ministerial Committee for Legislation is expected to debate the bill to gauge support for the legislation on this coming Sunday.
“The current Knesset has no chance of approving any proposal” for a continuation of the current partial building freeze in West Bank Jewish communities, Shama said Monday. “I hope that the Ministerial Committee will approve the request for a waiting period exemption so that we can pass the bill before the end of the summer session.”
The attempt to push the bill quickly through the Knesset in the month that remains before the end of the summer session is crucial, as the current building moratorium will expire in late September, weeks before the Knesset re-convenes for its winter session.