VARIOUS: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU CONSIDERS HOLDING A NATIONAL REFERENDUM ON TROOP WITHDRAWALS FROM THE WEST BANK

Record ID: 399928

  • Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU CONSIDERS HOLDING A NATIONAL REFERENDUM ON TROOP WITHDRAWALS FROM THE WEST BANK
  • Date: 24th June 1998
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (JUNE 24, 1998)- (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV EXTERIOR ISRAELI KNESSET 0.05 2. SV ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENYAMIN NETANYAHU WALKING IN 0.17 3. SV NETANYAHU'S MEDIA ADVISER DAVID BAR-ILLAN SAYING, "THE KNESSET CORRIDOR ISSUE AT STAKE IS A BIG CHUNK OF LAND WHICH IS THE CRADLE OF JEWISH CIVILIZATION, CULTURE AND RELIGION, SO HOLDING A REFER
  • Embargoed: 9th July 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA5EPWTLD3V4LQRP6UKQ5P3QM52
  • Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering asking the people to decide the fate of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process by holding a national referendum on further troop withdrawals from the West Bank.

    Netanyahu has appointed a ministerial committee to examine the possibility of a nationwide referendum, asking it to look into the legal and logistical implementations of such a ballot.

    The prime minister is expected to study the committee's findings, ahead of presenting his cabinet and the parliament with a proposal to hold a national vote on handing over additional West Bank land to the Palestinian Authority.

    Netanyhau had been under pressure by right-wing politicians and settler leaders not to hand over any more land to the Palestinians.

    Some thirty Jewish settler families have set up a tent camp outside Prime Minister's Jerusalem office to protest against any possible redeployment.

    Netanyahu has so far resisted U.S.pressure to accept a proposal to give 13 percent of the West Bank land in exchange for Palestinian steps to curb militants, but is now considering using the referendum to help him decide the issue.

    One of the ideas being discussed is the use of magnetic cards which will be sent to eligible voters, and then cast at post offices.In any case, legislation clearing the way for a referendum could take up to three months, and is estimated to cost 105 million shekels ($29 million).

    The opposition Labor Party has vowed to do everything in its power to prevent the Israeli Knesset from passsing a referendum bill.Knesset member Yossi Beilin, one of the originators of the Oslo peace accord, said that the referendum is simply a pretext by the Israeli premiere to postpone the implementation of the agreements with the Palestinians.

    Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat angrily rejected the proposed referendum as "a game, aimed to waste time" and avoid carrying out agreements which have already been signed.
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