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.
Israel's new #ApartheidRoad on the eastern gateway to occupied #Jerusalem advances the E1 colonial plan and the further expansion of Ma'alee Adumim settlements towards severing the territorial contiguity of the State of #Palestine | https://t.co/5oEazeZxJA
— Dr. Saeb Erakat الدكتور صائب عريقات (@ErakatSaeb) March 11, 2020
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.
