THERE WILL BE NO PEACE WITHOUT MEVASERET ADUMIM

This is the name of the area in which a new neighborhood is planned as an extension between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim. Knesset speaker Ruvy Rivlin took a tour there to support the project:

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin toured the E-1 area connecting Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim on Monday and had a fierce message for US opposition to construction there.

Israel plans to build 4,000 apartments in E-1, also known as Mevaseret Adumim, while 450 units in northeast Ma'aleh Adumim were frozen by the Olmert government, although all the infrastructure for those units is already in place.

"Without Ma'aleh Adumim and without the construction in E-1 and a continuous Jerusalem territory, there will not be peace, but rather a division of Jerusalem, which will intensify the conflict."

"We had arguments with the US, but [former US president George W.] Bush gave an explicit and valid letter saying that Ma'aleh Adumim, with other parts of Israel, will be areas where Israel can continue to be based."

"We must make it clear to the Americans that any harm to the continuous territory between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim will bring about a situation in which Ma'aleh Adumim will be swallowed like Mount Scopus was in 1948-1967," he said. "Israeli concessions over construction in Ma'aleh Adumim will be like giving up on the 'Bush Document,' which recognizes Israel's right to build in settlement blocs."

In a meeting at the Jerusalem Municipality prior to the tour, Rivlin said that the US policy of opposing construction in E-1 "is a danger to Jerusalem and its future, and we need to present an uncompromising counter-stance."

During the tour, Yishai said that Israel would continue to build in the E-1 area, and even if the Americans don't agree at first, they will eventually get the message.

"We can continue to try and convince them, but if we don't succeed, and this has happened in the past, Israel must continue to do what it believes in," he said. "There will be no other way, the Americans will in the end understand that it is based on the commitment of the previous administration and cannot be ignored. It's existential for us, it's a national security issue, it's right, correct and necessary."

Rivlin told Army Radio later Monday that the US demands for a freeze in E-1 construction were "weakening" Israel.

Quite right. But then let's not forget that even Dubya didn't do many favors for Israel in his time when he condoned concessions like the withdrawal from Gaza that led to disaster for Sderot.

Mevaseret Adumim is an important project for the purpose of strengthening Jerusalem. And segregation is not a productive idea.