This policy paper was written ahead of a meeting of the Law, Constitution, and Justice Committee on 25 December 2024 requested by the Land of Israel Lobby in the Knesset to discuss an amendment of Basic Law: Referendum that would expand its scope to territories in the West Bank. The debate was initiated by MKs from the Religious Zionist Party, Likud, Otzma Yehudit, Shas, Tikva Hadasha, and Yisrael Beitenu.

Basic Law: Referendum, enacted in 2014, stipulates that any concession of territory under Israeli sovereignty must be approved in a referendum or by a majority of 80 MKs. The proposed amendment would expand the scope of the law and apply it to Judea and Samaria as well. This means that any future ceding of these areas as part of a peace treaty would require a referendum that would comprise only eligible Israeli citizens and would exclude 2.5 million Palestinians living under Israeli rule in the West Bank.

Zulat warns of a serious blow to Israeli democracy and to human rights, and argues that the said amendment would deepen Israeli rule in the territories and deprive the Palestinians of political rights. According to our policy paper, the current version of the law already contains a constitutional distortion, given that it excludes the participation of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. Expanding the application of the law to the Occupied Territories would exacerbate this violation and lead to what Zulat defines as an apartheid policy.

The main reason reasons for our opposition to the law:

* Violation of Palestinians’ Rights: The proposed amendment would allow the settlers to vote on the future of the territories where they live, while the Palestinians living under Israeli rule would not be given the opportunity to take part in deciding their fate. This constitutes a denial of the fundamental right to political participation, in contravention of the international treaties to which Israel is a signatory.

* Deepening Occupation and Annexation: The amendment would deepen the creeping annexation of the West Bank amid additional oppression of the Palestinians living under military rule. Since its inception, the 37th government has escalated settlement policy and violations of the rights of Palestinians with the purpose of broadening Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied Territories.

* Destabilizing Israeli Democracy: The Knesset, which represents the sovereign, might be weakened given that the amendment would bypass its authority and would hand over decisions on political-security issues to the public amid infringement on democratic checks and balances. The government could use the referendum to evade political responsibility for complex decisions, and thus continue to shore up its position.

* Intensifying Tyranny of the Majority: In a reality where the government spearheads authoritarian processes and incites against minorities, it could use the referendum’s will of the majority at the expense of the Palestinian minority. Such a development would exacerbate the violation of the rights of Israel’s Arab citizens and of the Palestinians living in the territories.

* Lack of Public Oversight Mechanism: The law does not include a public mechanism to decide the issues to be addressed in a referendum, which allows the government full control over the content of the referendum and its format, contrary to the practice in other democratic countries.

Zulat calls for repealing Basic Law: Referendum altogether. It does not conform to a parliamentary regime and is a political tool used to deepen the occupation and deny the rights of the Palestinians. At a time when the government advances a regime revolution and our parliament loses power, it is inconceivable that the Knesset should be bypassed and the harm to the minorities should continue.