Speaking Monday, Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett said that Israel needed to get moving on building homes in the E1 corridor, also known as Mevasseret Adumim. Bennett was speaking in advance of a mass march, in which protesters would demand that homes be built in the area.
The E1 corridor is located between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, and construction there would essentially join the suburb with the city, creating a solid band of Jewish residency between French Hill and other peripheral areas of Jerusalem, and Maale Adumim. It is for this reason the Palestinian Authority is especially opposed to the project, and has threatened violence if construction goes on. The government of Binyamin Netanyahu has said in principle that it favors construction, but in practice has done nothing to advance building there, hindering the advancement of construction and development plans there.
“Whoever says 'if I forget thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither,'” the famous Biblical passage, said Bennett, “cannot forget E1 either. Anyone who does not see E1 as united with Kotel, as the Mamila section is united with the Kotel, does not understand this region at all,” he said.
Those who refuse to move forward on construction there, said Bennett, “do not understand the challenges the Palestinians have placed before us. We do not need permission from the world to build in our capital city.”
The march, which will take place in about three weeks, will seek to increase pressure on the government to push forward building plans for the area. The march is being organized by a wide array of groups, including the Judea and Samaria Council, Beitar, Matot Arim, Kommemiyut, the Maale Adumim municipality, and many others.