The United States strongly opposes construction of a fence around the large West Bank settlement, arguing that it would impede the establishment of a viable Palestinian state by making it hard to move between the northern and southern West Bank.
Though the general fence route in this area was approved by the cabinet in February, ministers have not seen the detailed plans that the Civil Administration presented to local Palestinian mayors Tuesday. At the February meeting, the ministers were told that the exact route would depend on the Justice Ministry's approval.
Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor) complained Tuesday that the final route should have been shown to the cabinet before construction began. But Minister Haim Ramon, also of Labor, said that as long as the final route did not differ significantly from the route approved in February, he does not see a problem.
According to the Justice Ministry, the portions of the route approved to date - some of which will be built on state land, and some on private Palestinian land - are not substantially different from the original. Mazuz has thus far approved the western and southern sections of the route and part of the eastern section; he is still examining the remainder.
The planned route would put the easternmost point of the fence around Ma'aleh Adumim some 25 kilometers from the Green Line, or about half the width of the West Bank. Both the Palestinians and the international community say it would therefore prevent the establishment of a viable Palestinian state, as it would impede territorial contiguity between the southern and northern West Bank.
As a result, diplomatic sources in Jerusalem said that the expropriation orders issued this weekend "are being carefully examined by the most senior officials in the American administration," and the issue is likely to be raised at Wednesday's meeting between Finance Minister Ehud Olmert and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
But Ramon, a leading supporter of the fence, rejected the accusation that it would impede Palestinian territorial contiguity. This issue could be resolved, he said, if Israel simply built a new road connecting Bethlehem to Ramallah, thereby ensuring that the West Bank would not be cut in two.
Hind Khouri, the Palestinian Authority's minister for Jerusalem, said that in total, expropriation orders have been issued for 1,588 dunams in the area of Al-Azzariyeh, Abu Dis and Sawahra al-Sharkiyeh. Moreover, she said, the planned route would leave grazing grounds, olive groves and some 250 wells that serve the Palestinian population on the Israeli side of the fence.
According to the cabinet's decision, the fence around Ma'aleh Adumim is slated to put some 67 square kilometers of the West Bank on the Israeli side.
Salah Bader, head of the Palestinian liaison office for the Jerusalem area, said that the PA plans to appeal the route to the Israeli courts. "It will put us in prison," he said. "The distance between the existing wall west of Al-Azzariyeh, which separates it from Jerusalem, and the new fence to be built east of Al-Azzariyeh will not exceed two kilometers. There's more space than that in Ketziot Prison."
Lawyer Danny Seidemann of the Ir Amim organization said that Israel was exploiting the withdrawal from Gaza to build the fence around Ma'aleh Adumim. A similar assessment was offered by attorney Mohammed Dahla, who has represented many Palestinians in petitions to the High Court of Justice against the fence. The Justice Ministry rejected this charge.
Colonel (res.) Shaul Arieli, who drew the maps for the Geneva Initiative and has successfully persuaded the High Court to change the fence's route in several places, said the proposed route around Ma'aleh Adumim would cause tens of thousands of Palestinians in the area to relocate to Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fully intends to create a territorial connection between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, but is not necessarily committed to the E-1 plan, which calls for building a new Jewish neighborhood along the connecting corridor, senior government sources said.
"There will be a territorial connection in the future, but we don't sanctify the E-1 plan," said one. "In any event, it will be years before this plan is approved, so the question is academic."
The E-1 plan, which the United States vehemently opposes, calls for building some 3,500 new apartments between Ma'aleh Adumim and the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem. To demonstrate a presence in the E-1 area in the meantime, Israel had planned to build a police station there, but American pressure caused this idea to be frozen.
Foreign diplomats, as well as the Palestinian Authority, have expressed fears that Sharon might take advantage of the disengagement from Gaza to build E-1 - among other reasons, to strengthen his standing in the Likud before the party's leadership primary. But the senior government sources indicated that Sharon has no such intention, as he does not want a confrontation with the international community right now.
Health Minister Danny Naveh, who opposes the disengagement, had in fact demanded that Israel approve E-1 simultaneously with the withdrawal from Gaza, but Sharon refused to even bring the issue to the cabinet for discussion.
Palestinians, as well as Israeli leftists, argue that the plan would destroy any chance of a peace agreement by separating East Jerusalem from the West Bank, thereby preventing East Jerusalem from becoming the capital of a Palestinian state. They also fear that a connection between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem would effectively turn the northern and southern sections of the West Bank into two separate "cantons."
But Sharon, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post this week, rejected this latter claim. Ma'aleh Adumim will continue to grow and will be linked to Jerusalem, he said, but it is possible to find solutions that would enable such a link without severing the northern and southern West Bank.
In particular, Sharon plans to build a new road between Bethlehem and Ramallah that would pass east of the fence slated to be built around Ma'aleh Adumim. The U.S. has not yet responded officially to the fence's route.
