Arbeitskreis Israel/Palästina e.V. Bonn
- The Three Jerusalems: Municipal, Greater and Metropolitan -
The "inner ring" of settlements that defines municipal Jerusalem is today being linked with an "outer ring" of settlements to transform Jerusalem from a city into a region that controls the entire central portion of the West Bank.
"Greater Jerusalem" the master plan of which was formalized already in 1995, extends the city far into the West Bank. Yet an even more extensive "Jerusalem" exists: Metropolitan Jerusalem. Though not intended for annexation, it forms a planning unit designed to ensure that Ramallah and Bethlehem remain undeveloped satellite cities dependent upon Israeli Jerusalem even if they eventually fall across a political border separating Israel from Palestine. Indeed, by creating extensive buffer zones between the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding West Bank, Israel is eliminating the economic heart of any Palestinian state. In this way Israel keeps all the developmental potential of the city -- and the country as a whole - firmly in its hands, rendering the Palestinian state a non-viable entity existing on a Third World subsistence level.
The map also shows the "E-1" area, 4000 acres annexed to Ma'aleh Adumim in a combined move by the Netanyahu and Barak governments. With the addition of E-1, Ma'aleh Adumim's master plan extends entirely across the West Bank from Jerusalem to Jericho, effectively severing the northern West Bank from the south. Palestinian traffic will likely be diverted into Israeli territory (along the "Eastern Ring Road" now being constructed in East Jerusalem), allowing Israel to control Palestinian movement even in the event that a Palestinian state emerges. E-1 reveals the subtle, sophisticated and effective use of planning for control employed by Israel.
 
 

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