Israeli Knesset (parliament) members representing Jewish ultra-orthodox parties are frustrated by a proposal to enforce army conscription of yeshiva seminary students but exclude Israeli Arabs from military service, local media reported on Sunday.

The proposal was made by the ministry of justice for a new bill to replace the decade-old so-called Tal Law, which allowed draft- aged Jewish religious students to indefinitely defer their service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Tal Law, named after jurist Tzvi Tal, was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional several months ago and is due to expire on Aug. 1.

After the court voided the old law, controversy was sparked over whether to include likewise Israel's Arab population into some form of either military or national service.

In a note to the parliament committee for drafting the new law, Israeli Deputy Attorney General Mike Balas said that "The committee will have to decide whether it wants a solution only to the yeshiva students' obligations or a wider arrangement addressing other groups that don't serve (in the IDF) such as Arab men and women, as well as Jewish religious women."

On April 29, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told protestors angered over the draft exemptions for the religious groups that "The division of the burden (of reserve duty) must change; what was will no longer be."

He noted that "The Tal Law will be replaced with one that is more equal and just, and I will bring it to the fore."

The protestors, led by the Forum for Military Service Equality, on Saturday said they had already gathered 30,000 signatures on a petition calling for changing the ruling.

Netanyahu said the new law would also include national service for Israel's 1.5 million Arabs, but would do so "without setting one sector of the public against the other."

"The change will include expanding the framework and an enlarged budget. This is a high priority goal for the security of the state," he said in a statement sent to Xinhua.

The new bill's framers hope to submit a draft by July and get it passed before the Knesset's summer recess.