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Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=6929
The Jordan Valley: Israel's Security Belt
(Israel Hayom) Efraim Inbar - The Jordan Valley, the only available defensible border on the eastern front, is indispensable for Israel's national security. Designing stable defensible borders in accordance with the current, but transient, political circumstances is strategically foolish. If Israel wants to maintain a defensible border along the Jordan Valley, it also needs to secure the road from the coast to the valley via an undivided Jerusalem and via Maale Adumim - 15 km. (9 miles) from the river. This is the only safe route via which Israel can mobilize troops from the coast to the Jordan Valley in case of emergency. Maale Adumim serves as the linchpin in establishing an effective line of defense along the Jordan Valley against aggression from the east. Building in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim will secure the road to the Jordan Valley and prevent the division of Jerusalem. The writer is director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University.