Proposed Law: Jerusalem Laws

There are two Jerusalem Laws being proposed and on the docket.. both are a big deal and will, and already have, invovle a lot of fighting, dealing and opposition.

Minister Yisrael Katz is proposing a law that would expand the borders of Jerusalem to include within it the surburban towns around, such as Maaleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar, Givat Zeev, and more. This will add 150,000 or so residents to Jerusalem.

Somehow Katz's proposal will add them to Jerusalem while allowing them to somehow keep a level of independence as well. Residents of the affected areas will vote in Jerusalem elections, but will also continue to have their own local elections as well.
source: Kooker

I wonder about arnona payments. Will they go up in line with the rates used in Jerusalem? EVen if they don't go up right away, maybe they'll sneak in the increases in ten or fifteen years... Will residents have to pay twice in some way - to local authorities and also to Jerusalem? Will they all have problems with further construction now that they would be a part of Jerusalem?

The second Jerusalem law is the one proposed by Minister Naftali Bennett that is meant to protect Jerusalem from attempts to divide it. Bennett has proposed a law that would require a special vote of at least 80MKs in support of dividing Jerusalem in order to do so.
 source: Kipa

This proposal was threatened by some coalition in-fighting, but it has successfully passed the Ministerial Legislative Committee, meaning it will move along through the regular channels now and has a good chance of passing.

Obviously its supporters think that it is very unlikely 80 MKs will ever support dividing Jerusalem and giving parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians in negotiations. Just like this was passed, it can be overturned by a future government. As well, it will raise issues as to how to define dividing Jerusalem - meaning, if a government wants to give the Palestinians a neighborhood in, say East Jerusalem populated entirely by people who identify as Palestinians, will they be able to simply define it as not a part of Jerusalem? Will the definition be set in the law as the municipal borders?

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