Ramallah, 29-03-08: Israel is set to open its Jerusalem police headquarters built on occupied West Bank land on Monday, in a move that PNI Secretary General Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP said "flew directly in the face of peace."
The police headquarters lies in the so-called "E-1" area, which aims to create a direct link between Jerusalem and the illegal West Bank settlement of Ma‘ale Adumim, in contravention of international law under which all of Israel‘s 133 settlements and their associated infrastructure are deemed illegal.
The E1 area will slice the West Bank in two and will sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, preventing the territorial contiguity of any future Palestinian state, and precluding the designation of East Jerusalem as the capital of such a state. This would spell the end of a viable two-state solution.
Dr. Barghouthi described the move as the "latest example of Israel‘s duplicity in implementing policies on the ground that contradict its public declarations as a willing partner for peace."