Defense Ministry issues permit for Kashriel caravan in disputed E-
Defense Ministry issues permit for Kashriel caravan in disputed E-
0 Comments | Jerusalem Post, May 7, 2008 | by TOVAH LAZAROFF
The Defense Ministry has issued a temporary permit to allow Ma’aleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel to place a caravan on the contested E-1 hilltop that lies within the municipal boundaries of his West Bank city, just east of the capital.
“It’s important to explain to the public the strategic importance of this place,” Kashriel told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday after holding office hours in the brown wooden caravan, which has a scenic window and a large black tent awning. Posted on top of a nearby stone wall was a large sign reading: The Ma’aleh Adumim Municipality.
“If we don’t settle here, the Palestinians will,” Kashriel said.
In honor of the state’s 60th anniversary, he plans to greet visitors in the caravan on Wednesday and Thursday as well.
Although the caravan’s permit expires on Sunday, there is nothing temporary about Kashriel’s intention to fight for permission to build on this undeveloped section of the city that overlooks Route 1 as it heads down to the Dead Sea.
Palestinians and the US have long opposed construction in E-1 – a mostly empty area of 12 square kilometers on the opposite side of the highway from its developed sections – saying it would disrupt the contiguity of a future Palestinian state.
But now, a week before US President George W. Bush is expected to arrive, Kashriel, with the help of the Defense Ministry, has taken a stand against such pressure.
In addition to the caravan, he has set up a large sign at the bottom of the hill welcoming visitors to his city’s new neighborhood, which he has called Mevaseret Adumim. The newly paved road leading up to the site is already adorned with flags.
Kashriel, who has been lobbying the government unsuccessfully for building permits for E-1, expressed fear that Israel would give the site away – a move that would present a security risk for both Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim.
The growth of his city was also at stake, he said, because it was quickly running out of areas in which it could build.
Kashriel said he wanted Bush and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to know that while they were friends, they did not run the country.
“Rice is not an Israeli leader,” he said.
Behind Kashriel’s caravan on Tuesday, security vehicles could be seen heading up the hill to the new Judea and Samaria Police headquarters that was recently completed on E-1.
The police denied reports that they had held a formal ceremony to inaugurate the station on Tuesday
caravan awning