Jerusalem24 – Israeli authorities are working on a network of roads, tunnels and bridges that will wrap around East Jerusalem, “swallowing and besieging [Palestinian] land for the benefit of the settlement project,” according to Bassam Bahr, the head of the Defense Committee for East Jerusalem.
The Israeli Minister for Jerusalem Affairs and Settlement Construction, Ze’ev Elkin, said that “Israel will continue to change the reality in East Jerusalem, and close the gaps and unite it with West Jerusalem.”
The Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and the Israeli municipality announced the creation of two high-tech “innovation centers” estimated at NIS 50 million in Al-Issawiya and Beit Hanina in occupied East Jerusalem. The ministry also announced that they have dug tunnels underneath French Hill, to connect the settlements in the Jordan Valley and Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem. From Jerusalem, the route will continue to Tel Aviv through route 443, with the project slated for completion by 2024.
Bahr believes this will enable Israel to increase the construction of settlements around Jerusalem and especially to the east of the city.
Bahr says that Israel intends to confiscate 67,000 dunums of Palestinian land located between the settlement of Kedar to the east of Jerusalem and the village of Mukhmas, northeast of Jerusalem.
Bahr said, “the creation of these tunnels comes within a plan to change the traffic movement and transportation system in East Jerusalem, and make it easier for settlers to come and go into the city faster.”
