Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be thanked for coming clean. According to him, there is no reason for the big international uproar over the planned new settlement project near Jerusalem because Israel has no intention of ever giving it up. So it doesn't matter if Israel plans to build 3,000 new settler homes in the corridor east of Jerusalem. Since it has every intention of keeping the corridor, as Netanyahu recently confirmed, then figures mean very little - whether it's 3,000, 6,000 or 20,000, it belongs to Israel and it can do what it pleases with it. According to Netanyahu, successive governments from Yitzhak Rabin to Ehud Olmert would have incorporated the corridor in a final peace treaty. History cannot verify the veracity of that claim, but what is unchallengeable is that no final agreement was ever reached with either leader. Perhaps Olmert wanted to keep the corridor under Israeli control under a final peace deal, but at least reportedly opposed any development of the area before a peace agreement was reached. The master plan extends the boundaries of Jerusalem to include the large Israeli settlement city of Maale Adumim. Between Maale Adumim and East Jerusalem, Israel proposes to construct the E1 corridor, which would join the settlements in a ring and add to the separation of East Jerusalem from the West Bank. The E1 corridor will divide the northern and southern West Bank and will impede direct transit between Palestinian Bethlehem, which is south of E1, and Palestinian Ramallah, which is north of E1. Construction of the E1 corridor, portions of which are owned by Palestinians, could thus prevent the formation of a viable Palestinian state. E1 is only one example of the master plan to replace the centuries-old Arab presence in East Jerusalem with a modern Jewish presence. The ancient Arab presence is further subdivided by the Separation Wall which runs through the East Jerusalem landscape and detaches East Jerusalem from the West Bank, making it unlikely that a Palestinian state could have its capital in East Jerusalem. Whatever Israel gains, the Palestinians are denied. Even if Israel agrees to the establishment of a Palestinian state, it will direct its policies to limit the effectiveness of that state. Since East Jerusalem and its holy sites greatly benefit the Palestinian economy and increase Palestine legitimacy, Israel will do everything it can to prevent East Jerusalem being ceded to the new state of Palestine. An indivisible Jerusalem is part of that effort. Building settler homes in the so-called E1 corridor would make it impossible for Palestinians to establish a viable state in the West Bank. It is one of those red lines Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas often draws in the sand. But warnings in the sand or on paper do little to quench Israel's thirst for more pieces of priceless Palestinian real estate. If Israel carries out plans announced last week, E1 is destined to be the site of another Jewish settlement city, on occupied land that otherwise is part of the state for which Palestinians have just won de facto UN recognition. Netanyahu announced what was known all along, that he has no intention of giving up Palestinian territory. His clarification simply made it official.
