Sunday 16 February 2014
Israelis push for West Bank splice
<http://www.maannews
MAALE ADUMIM (AFP) 14 Feb -- Thousands of young Zionist hardliners marched on Thursday to demand the government build new "settler" homes in E1, a highly sensitive strip of West Bank land near Jerusalem. Police said more than 6,000 people, including major Israeli political figures but mostly teenagers, joined the march which began in the Maale Adumim colony in the occupied West Bank and ended at E1 -- an undeveloped stretch of land just to the west, which borders the already stolen East Jerusalem territory. "Kerry = persona non grata," read one of the signs, referring to US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been trying to coax the Israelis and Palestinians towards a peace agreement. The Israelis have been planning construction in E1 since the early 1990s but nothing has ever been built there due to heavy international pressure. Plans for building 1,200 units unveiled in December 2012 were quickly put on hold after the announcement triggered a major diplomatic backlash. The Palestinians say construction in E1 would effectively cut the West Bank in two and prevent the restoration of a contiguous Palestinian state. "We will keep (the) promise to build in E1," Housing Minister Uri Ariel told a crowd consisting almost entirely of high-schoolers. The demonstration came hours after a Palestinian protest on the site in opposition to Israeli settlement construction in E1. That protest was held in anticipation of the Israeli right wing protest, and Israeli forces detained one activist during the demonstration.
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