Parliament in Israel has given preliminary approval to a bill that would toughen conditions for any handover of the Golan Heights to Syria, or of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.

Israel occupied both these territories in the 1967 war and later annexed them.

The bill would mean that any handover of land would have to be approved by a majority of deputies and by the Israeli public in a referendum.

It has to go through two more readings before it becomes law.

The parliament also gave its approval for early elections to take place on the seventeenth of May.

A large number of deputies from the governing coalition, as well as virtually all opposition deputies, supported the motion.

Elections were not due to be held in Israel until the year 2000, but the government lost parliamentary support over its handling of the peace process with the Palestinians.