Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called a plan meant to increase the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews and Israeli Arabs serving in military or national service as "historic."

Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon outlined the plan at Sunday's cabinet meeting, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office.

The plan's details were not made public, but Netanyahu said it would ultimately be submitted to the parliament for approval and passed into a law that would gradually increase the participation of both ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs in the military or civil service "without pitting one public against the other."

Tensions within Israel's political establishment have been brewing in recent months over a replacement for the so-called Tal Law, which for years exempted the country's draft-age religious seminary students from compulsory military service, as secular Israelis complained about inequity in the share of the burden.

The Israeli Supreme Court earlier this year ruled the Tal Law unconstitutional, and it is due to expire on Aug. 1.

The dispute came to a height last week when Shaul Mofaz, chairman of the centrist Kadima Party, quit Netanyahu's coalition following "unbridgeable differences" with Likud over the draft issue, accusing Netanyahu of capitulating to the ultra-Orthodox parties.

The move came just 70 days after Netanyahu and Mofaz announced to be partners in a national unity government.

"This will be a realistic change that will be possible to implement, not an empty move," Netanyahu told senior cabinet ministers Sunday about the new plan.

The prime minister promised that the state will "give more to those who serve and less to those who evade."