RAMALLAH, May 21 (JMCC) - Israeli military officials are considering allowing a Palestinian developer to open a temporary truck route through an area of the West Bank under Israeli military and civil control, where Palestinians are not usually given construction permission.
The move has angered right-wing parliamentarian,
reports the Jerusalem Post. They say that the road will eventually become a permanent entryway for the new city that Palestinians are constructing not far from the city of Ramallah. Palestinians have appealed for the right to open a main road in the same area -- without it, the Rawabi construction project will be dead in the water.
The sources said that no decision was likely to be reached, and it could be a week or two before a decision is made on the matter.
The defense sources stressed that this route was not, and would not, become the main road to the city – and that it would be used solely to help construction trucks reach their respective destinations there.
But Lobby co-chairman MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union), warned that the civil administration was trying to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. He warned that it will start as a temporary road, but end up as a permanent one.
The road, he added, is also a security risk because it places Palestinian vehicles very close to Jewish homes in nearby settlements. It also cuts through the Binyamin region, dividing it.