Preparations are underway to establish a new network of roads to expand existing settlements and pave the way for the construction of new ones in implementation of the so-called “Greater Jerusalem” project which will swallow more than 10% of the occupied West Bank.
Greater Jerusalem is a term used to describe the area encompassing the approximately 100 square miles surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem.
Specialist in settlement affairs Ahmad Sab-Laban told the PIC reporter that the Israeli authorities are working to create a series of settlement roads deep inside Jerusalem’s neighborhoods in a prelude to expanding existing settlements building new ones and connecting them together.
Sab-Laban said that this project will entail the confiscation of large areas of privately-owned lands especially in Shu’fat and Beit Hanina villages.
He added that the daily needs of the Palestinian people in East Jerusalem have been linked to the infrastructure network Israel will provide to the settlements through the new roads.
He affirmed that the roads being constructed at this stage will serve existing settlements and settlements to be expanded in the future under “Greater Jerusalem” scheme in an attempt to impose a fait accompli that cannot be changed in any future negotiations with the Palestinians.
