Speaking at the cornerstone ceremony of Mevaseret Adumim, know more commonly as E1, the area between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem, Tzviki Bar Chai, the head of the Southern Chevron Hills Council that the current administration’s construction freeze is an “unprecedented move”, condemning the policy. Bar Chai was among the notables attending the ceremony, which was more a prayer than reality.

While they laid a cornerstone for the planned community, the participants were well-aware that the construction is not yet a reality, with the United States and the European community succeeding in delaying the construction for years, opting to acquiesce to Arab objections and preferring to view Israel as an “occupier” of the capital, which they plan as the future capital of a Palestinian state.

Maale Adumim Mayor Kashriel and others on the other hand realize the strategic significance of the project, which will create land contiguity between Maale Adumim and the capital rather than to permit Arabs to continue building to create different realities on the ground.

Members of the radical left-wing Peace Now organization were on hand to protest plans for Jewish construction in the area, sharing the White House position that it is rightfully the land of the so-called Palestinians.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)