Last week, a new border crossing was opened in East Jerusalem's Shoafat neighborhood, to little fanfare. Two days later, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat asserted that Israel should relinquish Palestinian neighborhoods of the capital that are beyond the separation barrier, despite the fact that their residents carry Israeli identity cards.
Some people view these events as two pieces of the same puzzle. A third piece is the resumption of work on separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.
Put the pieces together, and you get a picture of Israel erecting, at enormous expense, a major system of roads and checkpoints that would allow for the total separation of Palestinians and Israelis while also enabling the construction of Mevasseret Adumim, a neighborhood that would connect Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem.
The new crossing at Shoafat, which replaced the old military checkpoint, resembles a border terminal between two countries more than it does a security checkpoint. Its generous proportions include five lanes for vehicles and a lane for pedestrian traffic.
TVNL Comment: This is another example of Israeli 'democracy' in action.
Crystal Hefner, the widow of late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, has alleged that his scrapbooks and...
Sami al-Saei said he heard the Israeli prison guards who raped him laughing through the assault,...
Millions of files related to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggest the existence of...
The Israeli Prison Service has begun preparations to introduce the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, Israeli...
