Israeli MPs pass referendum bill

The Israeli parliament has passed the first reading of a bill requiring a referendum to approve a pullout from annexed east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

At least 31 members of parliament were absent from the voting on Wednesday, 68 were in favor of the bill, 22 were against and one abstained.

The bill requires that any peace agreement reached between the Israeli government which entails an Israeli withdrawal from annexed territories must first be approved by a 61-MP majority in the 120-member parliament.

The passing of the first reading of the bill is seen as a boost to those opposing Israel's withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights under a future peace deal with Syria.

The bill concerns the strategic Golan plateau and east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed, in moves not recognized by the international community.

Syria has repeatedly demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan in exchange for peace and the Palestinians want to make east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.

Yariv Levin, a supporter of bill and a member of the Likud party, rejected criticism that the bill sought to impede peace.

"It is only appropriate that fateful and significant questions such as the country's borders should be voted by the widest possible majority and not only in Knesset," he told AFP.

The government-backed bill needs to pass two additional readings before becoming a law.

If approved in parliament, the agreement will have to be put to a national referendum within 80 days.