By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Aug 25, 2005
While the world sits in a state of ?exaggerated infatuation? with Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria, a crisis is brewing that could put an end to all peace efforts, warned a senior ?Palestinian? official this week.
Palestinian Authority Planning Minister Ghassan Khatib told Aljazeera.net the internationally-backed Middle East peace process is in ?mortal danger? over Israel's intention to fence off the Jerusalem suburb of Ma'aleh Adumim.
Ma'aleh Adumim, a town of some 30,000, sits just eight kilometers east of the Israeli capital, in the area most commonly known as the ?West Bank.?
Earlier this week, Israel issued land expropriation orders in order to build that part of its security fence that will keep Palestinian Arab ?suicide? bombers out of Ma'aleh Adumim.
Israel is building its ?West Bank? security fence, including what is know as the ?Jerusalem envelope,? as a defensive reaction to ongoing Muslim efforts to mass murder Jewish men, women and children.
According to the Arabs, this move will also cement Israel's hold on the eastern half of Jerusalem, which the ?Palestinians? claim as the capital of the state the international community is helping them to establish on ancient Jewish lands.
If Israel fails to surrender control over the heart of its biblical capital, there can be no peace, insist the Palestinian Arabs.
Furthermore, Khatib said the attempt by Israel to ?impose her will in the West Bank? by connecting Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem will justify the coming ?resumption of violence and bloodshed.?
For its part, Israel insists Jerusalem will remain united under its sovereignty forever.