Even fewer at the next demonstration

Quote:

The final authorization for the construction of thousands of housing units and industrial and commercial zones between Ma'aleh Adumim and the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem is a decisive step in determining the future of the Palestinian state. Connecting Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem creates one urban space, which covers a huge area inside the West Bank, from the watershed area to the plains of Jericho. It finally cuts off the northern West Bank from the southern part, and turns the Arab neighborhoods and villages of Jerusalem into isolated islands. Sharon and Mofaz know exactly what the plan they authorized means, and understand that there is no way to make it fit into the road map or any other political process. But they are counting on the American administration, for whom the illusion of the "political process" is much more important than the facts on the ground. The minute the administration in Washington accepts the Israeli claim that the construction freeze does not cover "planning procedures," it will accept the argument when the planning is over that the construction in Ma'aleh Adumim is only meant "to strengthen the Jewish settlement blocs," as President Bush has already affirmed. The Labor Party will not be able to raise any appeals because the plan was originally approved in principle by Yitzhak Rabin's government, though never implemented, and, in general, "Ma'aleh Adumim is in the consensus." Nobody will pay any attention to the protests from the Palestinians. What do they want? Didn't they get Gaza and the Palestinian cities? And maybe, just maybe, "if the terror is eradicated," they'll get half the West Bank, patched together with bridges and tunnels "that create contiguity, but that's not a matter for right away," as Sharon has said. Since no serious Palestinian will accept a plan for a state without territorial contiguity, it is clear that the plan to link Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem will torpedo any chance for the establishment of a Palestinian state as laid out by the road map.