A bill pushed by a top Likud minister proposes to re-draw the borders of Jerusalem and create a “Greater Jerusalem” that would include several settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank.
Yisrael Katz, the bill’s author, says it would celebrate the 47 year anniversary of the “unification” of Jerusalem. Israel conquered East Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed in 1980 on the grounds that the city is an “eternal and undivided” capital of Israel.
Eternal but growing, it seems, as the bill doesn’t specifically say so, but many believe it amounts to a de facto annexation of the new areas, since Israel has repeatedly stated it considers Jerusalem part of its territory. All of Jerusalem, no matter how big it gets.
Since the collapse of peace talks a month and a half ago, hawks in the government have sought to annex large portions of the West Bank to punish the Palestinians. This bill may be a compromise bill in that regard, taking a few neighborhoods in a backdoor annexation process.
Maale Adumim and Gush Etzion are recognized by all as areas that will be part of Israel in any agreement. Gush Etzion was always a Jewish area but that battle was lost and its residents massacred by victorious Jordanian troops in 1948. it was retrieved in 1967. Maale Adumim commands the hilltop that overlooks both Jerusalem to the west and the Jordan Valley to the east. it has 15,000 Jewish residents and the only reason it hasn't been annexed to date, is that in order to do so, the E1 area also must be annexed. That's why whenever the subject of E1 comes up there are always shrieks from sheiks. Nobody lives in E1, but no matter. Time has come for the world to realize that no matter what is offered, the Arabs will never agree to a Jewish state in their midst (or for that matter, a Christian one, either).
just to put it in perspective(grab your maps)
this will extend jerusalem in the east to the jordan border encircling jerico (once all the planned expansions of maale adumim are complete)
in the north it will extend jerusalem to ramahalah
and in the south it will extend past and encircle bethlehem
and at the center of these three areas is east Jerusalem. completely cutting it off from the west bank
the next gaza strip.
this bill alone would end any hope for a state in the west bank. not that there is any atm
Sorry Ken report to propaganda central, the illegal Israeli colonies you mention are emphatically not ” recognised by all” as remaining part of Israel never were and never will be. Just to intrude some easily verifiable facts into your fantasy land Zionist dream world, at the time of the legally dubious partition of Palestine, Jews owned 7percent of the land and we’re less than half the population,many illegal immigrants .