Maaleh Adumim Blurs Bush's Blueprint
By David Singer
Israel is indeed truly unique.
It is constantly singled out for special treatment that no other
country would accept or tolerate.
Take the case of Maaleh Adumim, which is situated in the West Bank
(called Judea until 1950, as those who followed Pope John's funeral
service were reminded).
The West Bank is an area of land just 5860 square kilometres in size -
about the size of Delaware.
President Bush calls Maaleh Adumim a "settlement", a code word
indicating that Jews are not welcome residents in any part of this
territory where neither Jews nor Arabs have yet established the
internationally recognised right to be its sovereign ruler.
In fact Maaleh Adumim is a thriving metropolis of 32000 people,
containing 9 schools , 39 kindergartens, 7 medical centres and two
family centres.
There is no hospital, but 5 major hospitals are located just 7
kilometres up the road in Jerusalem.
President Bush reminded Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during
their recent meeting at the President's Crawford Ranch that under the
Road Map Israel had to refrain from any new settlement activity.
The President was particularly concerned that Israel was planning to
build another 3500 housing units in the Maale Adumim "settlement".
Has a city of 32000 people ever been told they must refrain from
having children, getting married or enjoying family reunification?
President Bush is worried that the fundamental basic human rights of
32000 Jews to copulate and populate might cut off Palestinian access
to East Jerusalem frustrating his two State vision of Israel and a
Palestinian democratic State living side by side.
The President really needs to exercise tunnel vision to overcome this
basic moral flaw in his plan to succeed where others have so dismally
failed.
The Palestinians have proved themselves very adept at building tunnels
through which they have smuggled all kinds of weapons and explosives
in their unremitting terrorist campaign against their Jewish
neighbours.
No doubt a system of tunnels could be constructed and used for
peaceful purposes to allow any such access under or around Maaleh
Adumim.
The President is supposedly said to have given Mr. Sharon a commitment
that Israel would be able to hold on to "major population centres"
such as Maaleh Adumim.
Why doesn't he have the guts to come out and publicly say so right now
rather than try to put a hold on the lives and hopes of 32000 people
and create false expectations for the Palestinians whose cause he
apparently is championing?
Maaleh Adumim just happens to be located in an area slated for the
reconstitution and establishment of the Jewish National Home by "close
settlement on the land, including State lands and waste lands not
required for public purposes" as was proclaimed by the League of
Nations Mandate, which still is alive and operative today by virtue of
Article 80 of the United Nations Charter.
President Bush's moral and legal blindness also extends to his three
partners in the Road Map - the European Union, Russia and the United
Nations - none of which cares a hoot what history, the United Nations
Charter or international law says or prescribes.
We see how absurd this Road Map really has become when the President
of the world's only superpower backed up by his three powerful
enforcers has to tell 32000 people that they have to live and behave
in ways that would not be acceptable in any other part of the World.
Intent on creating a second Arab State in Palestine in addition to
Jordan, which already occupies almost 80% of the former Mandated
Territory, the President seems to have lost the plot and appears to be
totally lacking in conceiving any sort of creative resolution to what
could be easily overcome with a little imagination.
Underground railways and road tunnels are a part of every modern society.
What is the problem doing the same thing in the West Bank and Gaza?
Neither Jews nor Arabs need become the scapegoats for each other's
continued residence in the areas claimed by them. Contiguity can be
achieved just as easily underground as at ground level.
Whilst the idea is promulgated that Jews will not be allowed to live
where they currently do in accordance with international law, the
failure of the Road Map will be assured.
One President's vision is surely 32000 other peoples' nightmare.
If the President doesn't wake up soon and review this irrational
racist and discriminatory policy, it will also turn out to be the
worst nightmare for millions of other Jews and Arabs in the region as
well. ###
Submitted April 20, 2005
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David Singer is an Australian Lawyer and Convenor of: Jordan is Palestine International - an organisation calling for sovereignty of he West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine.
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