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| By israelinsider staff and partners September 1, 2005 |
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Israel will forever hold onto Maaleh Adumim, the largest Israeli community over the "green line" armistice demarcation line, and will build homes to connect it to Jerusalem "at the appropriate time," Vice Premier and acting Finance Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday.
Israel's current pullout from the Gaza Strip -- which is slated to be completed by mid-September -- has raised hopes among Palestinians that further land concessions will follow. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said Israel will evacuate some settlements in Judea and Samaria in the context of a final peace deal, but has insisted that the largest settlement blocs will remain in Israeli hands.
The United States has repeatedly stated its opposition to settlement construction, which violates an international peace plan known as the "road map" but President Bush has acknowledged that any peace deal must take into account Israel's population centers. The plan outlines the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Israel's determination to hold onto Maaleh Adumim, a suburb of the capital with an estimated population of 30,000, is understood by the United States "without a trace of doubt," Olmert told Israel Radio.
Israel will build homes between the settlement and Jerusalem to connect the two but has put off the construction until "the appropriate time," Olmert said. Israeli media has said that the government has frozen the construction of the 3,650 housing units due to American pressure.
The building is meant to solidify Israel's hold on the area, which is hotly contested due to its proximity to Jerusalem.
"I can tell you that Maaleh Adumim is an inseparable part of Jerusalem," Olmert told the radio. "The Americans know this. Everyone understands this. There is no chance that we will give up on this."
His comments came a day after rival Likud frontrunner Benjamin Netanyahu launched his electoral campaign in Maaleh Adumim, saying that Sharon would divide Jerusalem and succumb to American pressure to stop community-building in Judea and Samaria and the greater Jerusalem area.
Israel captured the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians hope to establish a state in the territories with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The AP contributed to this reported.
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