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Photo: Doron Sheffer
Construction in Maale Adumim
Photo: Doron Sheffer
Photo: AP
Netanyahu in Maale Adumim
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Photo: AP
Mofaz and Kashriel (Archive)
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Photo: Reuters
Mitzna: In the end we'll return E-1 to the Palestinians
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'Battle for Jerusalem' on

As likelihood of early elections grows, rival Likud members Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Olmert both vow to connect West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim to Jerusalem, in what is shaping up as key campaign issue

Sharon endangers Jerusalem was the slogan that accompanied former Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit Wednesday to E-1, an area referring to a sprawl of land connecting the capital to Maale Adumim.

 

One day after Netanyahu's visit, Finance Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in the area pledging to continue construction, so that "Maale Adumim would become an inseparable part of Jerusalem."

 

With upcoming elections expected in the near future, it is believed that Jerusalem - including the E-1 area - will be a central feature in election campaigns.

 


Building in Maale Adumim (Photo: Doron Sheffer)

 

However, Maale Adumim's municipality is ready with construction plans to build an additional 3,500-4,000 residential units to house some 15,000 people, while bulldozers have been paving dirt tracks almost around the clock, since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approved the establishment of a police headquarters in the area.

 

Meanwhile, Likud party politicians have started competing over who will receive credit for construction.

 

Maale Adumim Mayor Benny Kashrial told Ynet of his plans to build thousands of residential units, hotels, tourist attractions, shopping centers and increase employment in an area north-west of the city, which would near reach Jerusalem.

 

This large neighborhood would span 12,000 dunam (about 3 acres) and would be named "Adumim Views."

 

'Yitzhak Rabin's vision'

 

About 32,000 people live in Maale Adumim at present, which constitutes the largest settlement over the Green Line. It was established in 1982.

 

Should Kashriel's plan be implemented, some 71,000 people would live in the city by 2020.

 

However, the international community and Palestinian Authority are closely monitoring developments regarding the area, as the PA claims Israel's "real intention behind the plan" is to expropriate Palestinian land, annex Jerusalem and divide the West Bank into Samaria and Judea.

 

However the Maale Adumin municipality is not concerned.

 

"There was always consensus regarding Maale Adumim and the Jerusalem hills, from a strategically point of view it protects Jerusalem's eastern gate," Kashriel said.

 

"Without Maale Adumim, Jerusalem would be divided and would be under security threats. Without it, Jerusalem's southern exit to the Dead Sea and Eilat would not exist. This was Yitzhak Rabin's vision. It's not possible to say that Rabin was a settler."

 

Kashriel slammed Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, claiming they have frozen all construction permits in the area. According to Kashriel, establishing a police station does not indicate substantial development.

 

"Just as a district is established, so it can be dismantled by a government decision. It would not be so if there were 3,000 families living in the area," Kashriel says.

 

However, Sharon and Mofaz have both rejected the claims.

 

The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying, "The prime minister instructed the building of a police station in the E-1 area…the (construction) plans originated in 1996 and to this day have not been advanced."

 

"The prime minister has said that 'Maale Adumim will be connected to Jerusalem to create territorial continuity," the statement read. 

 

In addition, Mofaz's office said, "No decision was made to freeze construction. The defense minister declared two months ago a comprehensive plan for Jerusalem and territorial continuity between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem."

 

"The defense minister has approved and advances the E-1 plan to establish a police headquarters and construction of E-1," the statement said.

 

Mitzna: In the end we'll return it to the Palestinians

 

However, there are those in the political establishment who think otherwise.

 

Knesset member Amram Mitzna (Labor) believes construction in the area would cause endless troubles.

 

"Whoever really intends on reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians cannot and must not be allowed to build in the E-1 area, as its only purpose is to create a wedge between Judea and Samaria," he said.

 

"The Likud has refused to learn its lesson. If we cannot compromise with the Palestinians, they will eventually have a state made up of all of Gaza and the West Bank, with territorial continuity.

 

"In the end we would have wasted billions and would have had to return it all to the Palestinians, like what happened in the Gaza Strip."

 

Mitzna is not prepared to accept the claim that conceding E-1 would divide Jerusalem.

 

"In any event continuity will not occur, because Abu Dis is in the middle, so why do it? What is the strategic purpose?" he said. "The strategic purpose is to create a Palestinian state devoid of territorial continuity, and to create an irreversible situation."

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.02.05, 21:42
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