[6] In 1979, Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt, which included Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, which had also been occupied following the Six-Day war.
Minister of Agriculture Ariel Sharon and Foreign Affairs and Security Committee chair Moshe Arens, however, voted in favour of the bill.
[7] In June 1981, the 1981 Israeli legislative election was held, resulting in the Likud-led coalition under Begin retaining power and forming the Nineteenth government of Israel.
The attempt to rush the bill through the Knesset proved immediately controversial, with the Israeli Labor Party announcing that it intended to boycott the votes.
[12] Following the vote, Israeli Chief of the General Staff Rafael Eitan cut short a visit to Egypt, and ordered soldiers in northern Israel and the Golan Heights to high alert.
[citation needed] Uzi Benziman of Haaretz stated that the law "is liable to pull the rug out from under Israel's primary political foundation - the Camp David Accords.
[20] Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon stated that Israel was "forced to pass the annexation law to make it clear to Washington that we will not return to the indefensible 1967 lines.
[25][3] On 17 December 1981, the United Nations Security Council unanimously and without abstentions passed Resolution 497 deeming the law "null and void and without international legal effect.
"[28] British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher condemned the law, stating that "I say with the sorrow of a friend that this latest move is harmful to the search for peace.
"[30] Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times described the law in an editorial as "only the latest in a series of dramatic moves by Israeli Prime Minister Begin which have lost the country much international sympathy," warning that it would "jeopardise the present unsteady search for a Middle East peace.
[35] American Jewish Congress director Henry Siegman condemned the suspension of the Agreement, calling it an "intemperate response to Israel's decision to formalize her administrative jurisdiction over the Golan Heights.
"[36] Zionist Organization of America president Joseph Sternstein described the law as "a necessary and just step," saying that it "will quickly stabilize the situation on the Golan Heights.
"[36] David K. Shipler of The New York Times stated that the law would have the effect of "cutting down the options for future territorial compromise with the Arabs" and that "withdrawal from land now considered Israel's own would be psychologically more difficult, and especially so if Israeli civilian development spreads more deeply into the region.