Only one year after11-year-old Daniel Yuval lost his leg to a land mine in the Golan Heights, theKnesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee voted Tuesday in favor ofcreating a national authority charged with clearing Israel’s non-operationallynecessary land mines. The bill, which has the overwhelming support of 73 MKs,is expected to pass its first reading on the Knesset floor as early as nextweek.
Yuval, who has taken anactive role in lobbying for the legislation that will pave the way to clearhundreds of thousands of mines and unexploded ordinance, actively participatedin the committee hearing. “It is important that people do not continue to behurt by mines, as happened to me, and that we will be able to hike through allof the places that are mined today,” Yuval told legislators. “I hope that thislaw will pass.”