Likud MK Yisrael Katz proposed a bill Monday that would ensure maintaining the Jewish majority in Jerusalem.
The bill proposes to merge the communities around the capital into a 'Jerusalem Regional Council,' while still maintaining the communities' municipal independence.
The proposal followed the special cabinet meeting held Sunday on Jerusalem, in which Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski warned that within 12 years Hamas could take over the city demographically, without firing a shot.
"Jerusalem could, God forbid, end up not under Jewish sovereignty, but rather that of Hamas," Lupolianski said at the meeting, ahead of the 40th anniversary of the unification of the capital.
Hamas, Lupolianski said, "knows that it is possible to capture Jerusalem through demography within 12 years. We need a plan, and not crumbs, so that Jerusalem will remain Israel's capital forever."
Katz explained that according to his bill, residents of Ma'aleh Adumim, Givat Ze'ev, Beitar Ilit and Mevaseret Zion would be able to vote for both a Jerusalem mayor and their own municipality.
According to the lawmaker, several coalition members were in favor of the bill. If it passed, he said, the Jewish majority would get a boost and there would not be a demographic revolution in favor of the Arab population.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had announced at the cabinet meeting Sunday that the government planned to channel NIS 5.75 billion worth of benefits into the capital over the next five years, in an attempt to reverse the Jerusalem's demographic trends.
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