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Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111980179381
The "Greater Jerusalem" Building Controversy
(Jerusalem Post) Etgar Lefkovits - * The decade-in-planning project officially known as E-1 was originally initiated by the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin within the framework of a "Greater Jerusalem" plan which would link the capital with the large settlement blocs just outside the city limits. * The as yet uninhabited E-1 corridor is a 3,250-acre stretch that could link Jerusalem to 23-year-old Maale Adumim, with 32,000 residents, only five kilometers east of the city. * Most Israelis consider Maale Adumim to be a Jerusalem suburb, long considered by Israelis among the left and the right as one of the Jerusalem-area settlement blocs which will be incorporated into Israel as part of any final peace agreement with the Palestinians. * "Anyone who drives from Jerusalem to Maale Adumim knows that there are two options: either there is continuity between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, or Maale Adumim will become an island in Palestinian territory," says Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Natan Sharansky. * Maale Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel notes that the planned construction on empty state-owned land, which falls within the jurisdiction of Maale Adumim, would not displace one Arab family. * Israeli demographers said that, politics aside, the plan would prove a boon to the viability of the city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, providing it with badly needed space to expand. "From an urban perspective, this plan will greatly strengthen the city of Jerusalem," said Dr. Maya Hoshen, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Israel Studies.