Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – The Israeli government moved this week to institute a measure that would require parliamentary approval or a national referendum before any withdrawal from occupied Syrian territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu’s ministerial law committee’s decision could delay a pullout seen as critical to future Syria-Israel peace treaty. The decision was made on Sunday. An Israeli official confirmed to Reuters that the panel had revived the bill which was first drafted in May.

Called the “Golan Bill” by the Israeli media, the measure would require the approval of two-thirds of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, or a national referendum.

Israel occupied the Syrian Golan heights in June 1967 in the same war that it seized the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Sinai Peninsula.