When the Likud realizes Rabin's vision

Yitzhak Rabin is smiling in his grave. It is precisely his greatest political rivals from the Likud (under pressure from 'Religious Zionism') who are finally realizing his vision of 'Greater Jerusalem' and connecting Ma'ale Adumim to Jerusalem. It is they who are blocking the path to a Palestinian state, which Rabin, unlike his successors in the Labor Party, so strongly opposed both before and after the Oslo Accords.

Rabin was the first Prime Minister of Israel to promote the E1 construction plan, designed to connect Ma'ale Adumim to Mount Scopus, which lies within the territory of Jerusalem. He was the father of the 'Greater Jerusalem' concept, viewing it as a security and settlement space that Israel must maintain under its control in any future arrangement. He warned more than once that abandoning E1 would cut off Ma'ale Adumim from Jerusalem, potentially turning it into an Israeli enclave in the heart of an Arab region, connected only by a narrow road, much like Mount Scopus between 1948 and 1967.

The fact that all our Prime Ministers supported E1 and praised its strategic necessity shows that it was a consensus issue crossing party lines. This includes Rabin, Netanyahu, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Shamir, Ehud Olmert, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Barak. Despite this, the State of Israel froze E1 for three and a half decades, surrendering to heavy political pressure from the USA and Europe, which included threats of arms embargoes and the cancellation of submarine deals.

Better late than never. One must hope that this time it will be different and that the publication of tenders for the first 1400 housing units will lead to actual execution. For now, despite significant progress, the plan remains on paper. The 'change' government is still capable of thwarting the project at the building permit stage, driven by an obsession with a Palestinian state held by key figures such as Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Golan.

Three main reasons to hurry

1. These may be the final days of the right-wing government, and it is not certain that a 'change' government would allow the plan to proceed.

2. The Trump administration allows us to do so. Previous administrations imposed an absolute veto on E1, correctly understanding that it would block the establishment of a Palestinian state. This is why E1 is so vital and urgent.

3. Palestinians have been trying for years to create continuous construction from the north (Ramallah) to the south (Hebron and Bethlehem), which would separate Jerusalem from Ma'ale Adumim. Israel, conversely, seeks to create its own continuous construction and sovereignty from the west (Jerusalem) to the east (toward the Dead Sea).

Whoever wants to win the struggle against a Palestinian state must fast-track E1 now, creating a 'green track' with a shortened, facilitated planning procedure. Bulldozers should be on the ground not tomorrow, but yesterday. This plan is not only a realization of Zionism in the heart of Zion; it is a strategic plan of supreme national importance. It will prevent another 'Gaza' from growing on the outskirts of Jerusalem and make it difficult for potential new Sinwars to plan massacres directed at Jewish neighborhoods in the east of the capital.