Train contiguity

{mosimage}By the time U.S. President presented a vision of “viable” and “contiguous” future Palestinian state, Palestinian territories were, and still are, extremely fragmented with a completely ruined economy.

With the emerging new monopole world order, the terms contiguity and viability are replacing what used to be known “the right of self determination”; a diplomatic adjustment needed to integrate superpowers’ interests into basic peoples’ national rights. 

Contiguity, as a replacement to the integrity of national territories, could even take far more complicated styles as a result to technological advancements. Tunnels, bridges, and departure to destination closed-doors trains could provide a certain extent of contiguity between fragmented and isolated islands.

It is of no wonder that Israel has proposed a closed-doors train link between the Gaza Strip and the southern part of the West Bank in the aftermath of the Israeli pullout to the borders of the Palestinian Strip.

During the 1993 Oslo talks, Israel signed to the obligation of providing Palestinians a “free passage” on Israeli territories to link Gaza and the West Bank. Yet, the current Israeli leadership considers the Oslo accords a “sin” of the “left” that needs to be corrected.

The problem of contiguity is not limited to providing an “access” between Gaza and the West Bank, within the West bank a tunnel is proposed t link the walled city of Qalqylia with near by villages, gates are proposed to become the only access for thousands of Palestinian villagers isolated by the separation wall in seam areas.

Contiguity that can be provided through tunnels, train lines, gates and bridges, has nothing to do with the integrity of national sovereign territories. Contiguity in this context means “provide a limited access from one place to another”

In fact, contiguity was introduced to adjust Palestinians’ right for a free movement within their territories to fit Israel’s security and territorial interests, mainly the hundreds of Jewish settlements, which were established to prevent any territorial contiguity that allows for the emergence of a Palestinian state.