Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has approved the project to establish a bypass for Palestinians that links Arab villages around Jerusalem.
Bennett’s office said that the road for Palestinians dubbed the “sovereignty road,” will connect the villages north of the Maale Adumim settlement — Azaim, Anata, Hizme and a-Ram — to one another.
It is expected to remove them from the controversial E1 area, a section of the West Bank between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim; planned to be expanded within the controversial “E1” project that is supposed to divide the West Bank.
According to the Hebrew Maariv newspaper, the decision aims at separating Israeli public transportation from that of Palestinians.
Through this, Israel can control as many lands as possible from those it has previously seized in the early 1980s and transform Maale Adumim from a settlement established in 1982 into the largest settlement for Jews.
Bennett noted that this would allow Israel to build more settlements without any inconvenience.
Bennett said the new highway “will improve the quality of life for residents in the area, avoid unnecessary friction [for Israelis] with the Palestinian population and most importantly — allow for continued [settlement] construction.”
“We’re applying sovereignty [to the West Bank] in deeds, not in words,” Bennett stressed.
The project has been prepared 10 years ago but has not yet been approved. However, the planning procedures will now begin in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport, which will be responsible for its implementation.
Under the project, Palestinian residents will be able to travel and move using their cars, without passing through Maale Adumim settlement and other settlements in the area.
This measure proves previous Palestinian accusations that Bennett has already started a project to annex parts of the West Bank.
Bennett says “Israel’s policy states that Area C belongs to it,” stressing that it seeks to increase the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank to one million within a decade, compared to their current figure, which is more than 500,000 settlers.
