“We said there will be no Palestinian state—indeed there will be no Palestinian state. This place is ours,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rousing applause at the festive signing of an “umbrella agreement” between the government and Ma’ale Adumim at the Judean city’s Cultural Center on Thursday evening.
The umbrella agreement commits the government to finance the construction of two new neighborhoods and the expansion of a third in a city that hasn’t seen a new neighborhood built in 20 years.
In repudiating a Palestinian state, Netanyahu referred to the most strategically important part of the agreement—the building of a new neighborhood in E1 (“East 1”)—an area, once built, both Israel and the Palestinians agree threatens Arab geographic contiguity, making it far more difficult to establish a viable Palestinian state. (Read More)
