The Knesset Wednesday overwhelmingly defeated a bill aimed at annexing the administered territories. It was submitted by Geula Cohen of the ultra-nationalist Tehiya Party.
Four coalition members broke coalition discipline to vote for the measure — Meir Cohen-Avidov and Benny Shalita of Likud; Rabbi Yaacov Yosef of Shas; and Rabbi Haim Druckman of Morasha.
Premier Shimon Peres rejected Cohen’s contention that annexation was the realistic solution for the administered territories following the assassination Sunday of the Israel-appointed Mayor of Nablus, Zafer Al-Masri, a Palestinian moderate. He also challenged her concept of Zionism as taking land, “dunam-by-dunam, house-by-house.”
“What kind of realism proposes to settle Jews in the Gaza Strip, in a tiny area heavily populated by Arabs while the Negev is empty?” he asked. He said “dunam-by-dunam” Zionism would lead to “more hatred, more antagonism and more battles.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
