Nadav Shragai- Gerusalemme e Maalè Adumim 25/05/2009 Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs-Vol. 9, No.1 24 May 2009

Protecting the Contiguity of : The E-1 Area and the Link Between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim       Nadav Shragai         The E-1 area is a part of the Israeli city of Maale Adumim , located immediately adjacent to Jerusalem . There is an E-1 construction plan that was devised in order to link Maale Adumim and its 36,000 residents to Jerusalem . Every Israeli prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin has supported the plan. The E-1 site covers an area of largely uninhabited, state-owned land.     Without control of the E-1 area, is apprehensive about a Palestinian belt of construction that will threaten Jerusalem from the east, block the city's development eastward, and undermine 's control of the Jerusalem-Jericho road. This major artery is of paramount strategic importance for in order to transport troops and equipment eastward and northward via the Jordan Rift Valley in time of war.   Contrary to reports, the completion of E-1 would not cut the West Bank in half and undermine Palestinian contiguity. has planned a new road that would allow Palestinian traffic coming from the south to pass eastward of Maale Adumim and continue northward to connect with the cities in the northern West Bank . This Palestinian bypass road would actually reduce the time for Palestinian drivers traveling in a north-south direction who would encounter no Israeli roadblocks.    The main threat to 's future contiguity comes from encroachments on E-1 made by illegal Palestinian construction. Israeli and Palestinian construction in the West Bank has been governed by the legal terms of the Oslo II Interim Agreement from September 28, 1995. The area around E-1 is within Area C, where, according to Oslo II, retained the powers of zoning and planning. As a result, much of the recently completed Palestinian construction there is illegal. In contrast, none of the Oslo Agreeme nts prohibited Israeli settlement activity, though undertook unilateral limitations upon itself in this area in recent years.   Israeli construction of E-1 will not undermine Palestinian contiguity, but were to lose control of E-1, the contiguity of would be severely compromised.