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Head of the Yesh Atid party, MK Yair Lapid took part in a discussion on Monday, 27 Adar-I during a session of the Land of Israel Lobby for continued construction in Maale Adumim. Regarding Maale Adumim, Lapid stated that he feels the city is a part of Israel and it will always remain a part of it.

According to Lapid, “The residents of Yitzhar and Tapuach should be to come and say ‘if the government is not building in Maale Adumim because of us, we are willing to give in since they are not building by us in any event’, and in Lapid’s words, “Anything short of this is unfair to residents of Maale Adumim. He feels the same is true and should be said by the Shomron residents vis-à-vis continued construction in Jerusalem”.

Lapid concluded “There are 40,000 residents in Maale Adumim and building permits for 60,000 units while 100,000 are registered in the state ‘tabu’ registry. Hence, in his words “Each business in Maale Adumim can have 2.5 times as many customers”.

Lapid feels it is essential to agree to not building in other areas towards gaining a consensus to construction in Maale Adumim.

Also in attendance was Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who questioned the discriminatory policy by which construction continues for the Arab sector while it is frozen for the Jewish sector.

The event was attended by elected officials from both the coalition and opposition, all unified in their call to bring an end to the building freeze in Maale Adumim.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)