(March 12, 2020 / Israel Hayom) Israel’s plan to build a road connecting Jerusalem and the E1 area of Judea and Samaria represents the start of Israel’s “colonial” program to “sever the contiguity” of a future Palestinian state, PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday.

The E1 area, which stretches across four  miles just east of the Jerusalem municipal boundary, between Jerusalem and the suburb of Ma’ale Adumim, has been a focus of controversy as the Palestinians claim it is essential for their future state.

Erekat’s remarks came a day after Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett approved the project, which he referred to as the “sovereignty road.”

The road, according to Bennett, will “improve the quality of life for the residents; prevent needless friction with the Palestinian population; and most important, will allow settlement construction to continue. Applying sovereignty through actions, not words—this is what we’ll continue to do.”

The project will also facilitate Israeli construction in the E1 zone, which has been frozen for a decade due to international pressure. The Palestinians and many in the international community have claimed that Israel’s plans for E1 will render a potential Palestinian state non-contiguous and therefore unviable.

This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in Israel Hayom.

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