Israel's Palestinian Road Hit by Critics

Arab construction workers are seen at the E-1 construction site near the West bank settlement of Maaleh Adumim on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007. Israel has expropriated 110 hectares (275 acres) in the West Bank for a new road for Palestinians that would bypass a large Israeli settlement and enable its expansion, Palestinian officials said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) (Sebastian Scheiner - AP)

Israel insists it is ready to negotiate a peace deal. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his parliament Monday he would not miss this opportunity and warned that failure to reach agreement would mean a "demographic struggle steeped in blood and tears."

At the same time, Israel has been pressing ahead with its contentious West Bank separation barrier, including a segment around Jerusalem, known as the "Jerusalem Envelope."

Planned to keep out Palestinian attackers, the barrier will also slice off about 10 percent of the West Bank, and some Israeli leaders have suggested it should form the basis of a future border. According to such proposals, the Palestinians could be compensated with other Israeli land.

In the Jerusalem area, the Israeli measures have had the most far-reaching repercussions for a future Palestinian state. The barrier encircling Jerusalem has been largely completed, but a gap of several miles has been left on the eastern side.

According to a government-approved route, the barrier would dip deep into the West Bank in that area, in order to incorporate not just the Maaleh Adumim settlement of 30,000 residents, about two miles from Jerusalem, but also outlying Jewish enclaves, for a total of 23 square miles.

The construction is on hold because of an appeal to Israel's Supreme Court by the Council for Peace and Security, a group of hundreds of retired Israeli security officials who have proposed a much smaller loop.

The barrier route proposed by the government would drive a deep wedge into the West Bank, to the midpoint between Jerusalem and the Jordanian border, jeopardizing the contiguity of a Palestinian state.

In confirming plans for the Palestinian road, the Defense Ministry said the highway would run on what would be the "Palestinian side" of that wedge, starting south of Jerusalem.

"Due to the construction of the security fence in Maaleh Adumim, a need arose to build a road to directly connect the Bethlehem and Judea regions (southern West Bank) and the Jericho and Jordan Valley area (in the east), in order to improve quality of life for the Palestinians," a ministry statement said.

The road will be built on about 400 acres, of which 56 acres were expropriated from Palestinian land owners, the ministry said. Palestinian municipal officials said a total of 275 acres had been expropriated.

Shaul Arieli, a former Israeli peace negotiator and member of the Council for Peace and Security, urged Israel not to go ahead with the wide barrier loop and the new road.

"You cannot talk about a Mideast conference and in the meantime create facts on the ground that create a reality that cannot enable a final peace deal," he said. "If you want to go to a peace conference, you have to stop these actions."

Benny Kashriel, the mayor of Maaleh Adumim, said the proposed road would make life easier for Palestinians. He said Palestinian motorists would eventually be able to drive from the southern to the northern West Bank without encountering any Israeli checkpoints.

The mayor denied charges that the road was indirectly linked to plans to expand Maaleh Adumim by building 3,500 more homes on the last stretch of empty West Bank land just east of Jerusalem.

The project, known as E-1, remains on hold because of U.S. pressure, he said. If built, E-1 would cut off a future Palestinian state from its intended capital, east Jerusalem.

The new Maaleh Adumim bypass road could eventually erode opposition to the E-1 project, Arieli said. "If they build this road, they can say there is Palestinian contiguity," he said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said there is nothing new. "There has been no change in the position of the Israeli government," he said. "There is no settlement construction in the area of E-1."

Early Wednesday, Israeli troops shot and killed an armed Palestinian who belonged to a militant group affiliated with Abbas' Fatah Party in a raid on the West Bank city of Nablus, members of the group said. The shooting also wounded a senior militant from the group, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the group members said.

Israel's army spokesman did not immediately comment on the raid.