On Dec. 18, at the eleventh hour, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded in torpedoing a bill that would have required an exceptional, two-thirds majority of 80 Knesset members before any negotiations about a possible partition of Jerusalem. The law threatened to tie Netanyahu’s hands and greatly embarrass him in the talks with the Palestinians and the Americans and vis-a-vis the centrist parties in his coalition. Now he will have to deal with a new bill with similar ramifications approved by the Ministerial Committee on Dec. 29. That bill demands Israel’s annexation of Jordan Valley lands conquered in the Six-Day War in 1967 to make it difficult for the government to offer diplomatic concessions regarding these territories.

Even if this bill, submitted by Likud Knesset member Miri Regev, eventually fails, a similar proposal in an earlier stage of legislative development awaits around the corner. The initiator of this bill is Knesset member Moti Yogev, from HaBayit HaYehudi, which is a member of the coalition and of the government.

Meanwhile, the head of this self-same government is the one who, in recent months, has been conducting accelerated negotiations with the Palestinians with the objective of reaching an agreement leading to the end of the conflict between the sides.

Yogev, a colonel in the reserves and a resident of the Dolev settlement, is one of the prominent spokesmen of the far-right bloc in the current Knesset. It was with great ease that he enlisted supporters for his bill from among numerous right-wing Knesset members from the opposition as well as the coalition, including from the Likud Party. Among his explanations for the proposal, he asserted, “Over the years, a consensus has been created regarding the importance of the Jordan Valley and its connection to Israel. … [T]he future of the Jordan Valley begins in the Israeli consciousness. Israel must decide to impose its sovereignty over this extensive area that has a relatively sparse Palestinian population, and openly say: 'The Jordan valley will remain under Israeli sovereignty forever and ever.'”