Baku-APA. Israel's Ministerial Committee for Legislation will discuss on Sunday a bill to apply Israeli sovereignty on Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley, an occupied Palestinian territory, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
Promoted by Hawkish lawmaker Miri Regev, the bill aims to counter a U.S. security proposal for the Jordan Valley. The upcoming discussion comes only a few days before the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrive in Israel for another round of peace talks.
If the bill becomes a law, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be unable to accept the U.S. proposal to recognize the Jordan Valley as part of the future Palestinian state and maintain Israeli troops stationed in the area.
The bill will enforce Israeli law on Jewish settlements and the roads that lead to them.
"Its purpose is to ensure that the current government of Israel continues to maintain the country's eastern line of defense, as every previous government has done," Regev, who is a member of Netanyahu's Likud, wrote on her Facebook page.
"It's no secret that the towns in the Jordan Valley are of tremendous importance in terms of defense and strategy," she said. "Not every round of negotiations has to end with land concessions and forcibly evacuating Israeli towns," Regev added.
According to Regev's office, Likud ministers are backing the bill except Netanyahu himself, who has not yet expressed his opinion yet. Nevertheless, the bill looks set to secure enough votes in Sunday's discussion.
However, the committee is chaired by Tzipi Livni, who is Israel 's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, and she is expected to try to block the bill.
Israel occupied Jordan Valley in the 1967 Mideast War. Palestinians argue that Israel has intensively exploits the land and water resources in the Valley to a greater extent than elsewhere in the West Bank, making it de facto annexed.
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