The Israeli Peace Now Movement reported that the continuous construction in the West Bank settlement blocs included within the route of the Apartheid Wall is an activity that is going to devoid the Road Map of its meaning.
In a report issued Monday on the construction of colonies in August 2005, Peace Now clarified that the construction around the ‘Ariel bloc’ that includes large areas in the heart of the West Bank, as well as in the ‘Ma’aleh Adumim bloc’ could create a separation between Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, and thereby block the geographical unit of the W. Bank.
Peace now reported that the Separation Wall Israel is constructing in the West Bank is not only based on security consideration, as Israel claims that its constructing the Wall in order to protect its residents, but also it has political and tactical considerations.
“Israel aims to control as much as possible of the West Bank land, without the people, all in order to spare Israel the need to confront the demographic consequences of a Palestinian populationâ€Â, peace now reported.
It pointed out that an examination of the data on colonies activity throughout the WB in the last months shows that there are presently two seemingly conflicting trends underway; the first is a trend of ‘shrinking’ the Israeli hold, while the other is the expansion of the Israeli hold.
The shrinking trend is embodied primarily in the construction of the Wall, whose current route would mean the de facto annexation to Israel of 10% of the territory of the West Bank.
Meanwhile the trend of the expansion of the Israeli hold on the territories continues. Its main feature is the construction and expansion of colonies not included in the areas to be annexed by the Wall.
The construction of two new bypass roads, one of which, the Nili-Ofarim, road was just completed, whereas work is still underway on the ‘Za’atara bypass road’ that leads to the colonies of Nokdim and Tekoa, also reflects the continuation of that trend, the Peace Now said.
The apparent contradiction between those two trends is the result of the interaction between two schools of thought among the circle of the Israeli national security policy makers that has Sharon’s attention, it added.
The departure point of both schools of thought is that negotiations with the Palestinians on a final agreement are either impossible or not in Israel’s interest, since they will lead in one way or another to borders approximating the 1967 lines, Peace Now concluded.
