- Title: WEST BANK/GAZA/JERUSALEM: ISRAEL'S NEW JERUSALEM PLAN ANGERS PALESTINIANS
- Date: 21st March 2005
- Summary: (BN09) MAALE ADUMIM SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK (MARCH 21, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. PAN OF CONSTRUCTION SITE 0.13 2. SLV CONSTRUCTION WORKERS ON SITE 0.19 3. CU/SLV OF HEAVY MACHINERY ON SITE (2 SHOTS) 0.29 4. LV TRUCKS DRIVING THROUGH CONSTRUCTION SITE 0.43 5. CU MAP OF MAALE ADUMIM 0.55 6. SV MAYOR OF MAALE ADUMIM BENNY KASHRI
- Embargoed: 5th April 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MAALE ADUMIM, WEST BANK / GAZA CITY, GAZA / JERUSALEM
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVA44B3J5M6XPTFGXML4AI893N3V
- Story Text: Israel's new Jerusalem plan angers Palestinians.
Israel plans to build 3,500 new homes for Jewish
settlers in the occupied West Bank to cement its hold on
Jerusalem, government sources said on Monday (March 21, 2005),
drawing Palestinian warnings that peace efforts were at
risk.
The blueprint for construction between the Maaleh
Adumim settlement and Arab East Jerusalem clashed with a
U.S.-backed peace "road map", despite hopes for a
breakthrough buoyed by a truce Israel and the Palestinian
Authority declared last month.
Mayor of Maale Adumim, Benny Kashriel, said, "This
residential neighbourhood will connect our city Maale
Adumim to Jerusalem. It is very important to Jerusalem
security, it is very important to Maale Adumim security and
I want to say that these lands belong to the government, no
Arab family was evacuated, no Arab land was taken, so
everything is legal and legitimate."
The road map requires a halt to settlement expansion in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the
1967 Middle East war and sought by Palestinians for a
future state.
"This will not hurt at all the peace process with the
Palestinians. Those lands are empty hills that no one
wanted to live there and now we are building on these empty
lands. We don't hurt anyone, not the Palestinians and not
anyone else," added Kashriel.
Israeli government sources said Sharon last week
approved the construction plan, drawn up six years ago, for
3,500 new homes east of Jerusalem.
Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its undivided
capital, a claim that is not recognised internationally.
The Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of
a future state, accused Israel of poor faith in
peacemaking.
Palestinian minister for Civil Affairs, Mohammed Dahlan
said, "If they (Israel) are looking for hope and stability
and for a political process Israel should stop completely
the settlement process as was stated in the 'road map'
including the natural growth or what they claimed in the
past to be the natural growth of the settlers."
Attending a cabinet meeting, Israeli Labour Minister
without portfolio, Matan Vilnai said, "Maale Adumim is
part of greater Jerusalem. I believe that there is no real
issue about Jerusalem and the neighbours surrounding it,
so this new housing will be part of it and I hope that it
will cause no problem."
U.S. President George W. Bush said in 2004 that Israel,
which intends to quit occupied Gaza this summer, could
expect to keep some West Bank settlement blocs under a
final peace accord.
However, Bush also expressed support for establishment
of a Palestinian state that is viable and contiguous.
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