Palestinians outlaw compromise on Jerusalem...

How on earth are they going to negotiate peace with Israel???

The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council is pushing through a bill that would make it illegal to make any concessions on Jerusalem.

The bill, which passed its first reading on Thursday, also defines such concessions as a crime of high treason.

Presented by Hamas legislator Ahmed Abu Halbiyeh on behalf of two parliamentary committees - the judicial committee and the committee for Jerusalem affairs - the bill is expected to pass in second and third readings in the coming days.

The PLC session was boycotted by many members of the rival Fatah faction in protest of Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last June.

However, many Fatah legislators have made it known that they too support the law, which states that Jerusalem is a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic city and that it is totally forbidden to give up or conduct negotiations about any part of the city.

According to the proposed law, anyone who violates these prohibitions would be prosecuted as a traitor.

The bill still requires the approval of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said Ahmed Bahar, acting speaker of the PLC. He said the law would be presented to Abbas after it passed second and third readings.

The law is intended to embarrass Abbas and ties his hands on the eve of the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on core issues, including the future status of Jerusalem. Hamas officials said Abbas would have no other option but to endorse the law.