(CAMERA) Ricki Hollander and Gilead Ini - After Israel approved building a new neighborhood in Maale Adumim, a few miles east of Jerusalem, many news reports indicated that such building is objectionable because it would prevent Palestinians from controlling "contiguous territory" in the West Bank. These charges - an extension of the accusation that Israel is trying to separate the Palestinians into "cantons" or "bantustans" - are false. Moreover, they demonstrate a double standard in that they advocate contiguity for Palestinians by cutting off contiguity for Israelis. The question of contiguity for Palestinians is contrived. Palestinian contiguity in the West Bank would be no more cut off with the so-called E-1 corridor than would Israeli contiguity if Israel were to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders, even with slight modifications. Furthermore, Palestinian access to Jerusalem would not be precluded by building in a corridor between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem.
2005-04-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive