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On June 30, the Israeli Knesset passed a new law that sets boundaries on the withdrawal of territory under Israeli control.

The Israeli Knesset passed a law June 30 that stipulates either a national referendum or a two-thirds Knesset majority before withdrawing from any territory under Israeli control. Though on the surface this may appear to be a major obstacle to the Israeli-Syrian negotiating track, the peace talks still have a strong chance of moving forward.

A Knesset majority ruled 65-18 that no territory under full Israeli sovereignty can be ceded unless approved by the Knesset and then passed in a public referendum within 180 days. If, however, the withdrawal is supported by a two-thirds majority (or at least 80 Knesset members), the issue will not have to go to a public referendum.

The vote stemmed from rising political opposition in Israel to the indirect peace negotiations taking place between the governments of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Any peace deal between Syria and Israel must include Israel giving up its territorial rights over the Golan Heights, which was occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War. Though many within Israel’s political and military elite recognize that it is in Israel’s strategic interest to secure its northern frontier and deprive Iran of one of its key allies in the Arab world through a peace deal with Damascus, much of the Israeli public — at least in the current political climate — is not on the same page.