By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Aug 31, 2005
A day after announcing his decision to contend for the Israeli premiership, Binyamin Netanyahu chose to kick off his campaign Wednesday in what the world calls occupied Arab land.
Speaking from the city of Ma?aleh Adumim ? the largest Jewish community in Judea, just south-east of Jerusalem ? the former prime minister and recently-resigned finance minister warned that the Israeli capital was in danger of being divided as a result of the withdrawal policies of the ruling Sharon government.
Not only had Prime Minister Ariel Sharon begun the process of withdrawing to the 1949 borders with his ?disengagement? plan, he had also delayed construction of Jewish housing on a strategic piece of land that would unite Ma?aleh Adumim with Jerusalem-proper.
This delay, ?Bibi? charged, played into the hands of the Palestinian Arabs, who insist that Jerusalem is to be the capital of their State of Palestine, a position in which they enjoy almost universal support.
It also prejudiced the future of Ma?aleh Adumim which, as a ?West Bank settlement,? could be evacuated and demolished in the same way as was Gush Katif and the other Jewish towns in Gaza.
Netanyahu said Sharon was ?delaying Jewish construction projects between Jerusalem and Ma?aleh Adumim, and the Palestinians are overtaking us on this. They want to create a continuous Palestinian stretch from the north to the south, and we must not let that happen.?
For more than a decade both Israel and the Arabs have raced to create ?facts on the ground? in an effort to secure eventual control over the city regarded by Jews as their capital since the days of the biblical King David 3,000 years ago.