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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (AP)
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Last update - 11:10 12/10/2007
U.S. grills Israel over road planned on Palestinian land
By The Associated Press

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that she asked the Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Sallai Meridor
for clarifications about an Israeli plan to build a road near Jerusalem, partly on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians charge the construction will cut them off from Jerusalem.

Rice told reporters on the way to Moscow that she has not received a reply. Rice is due in Israel and the Palestinian areas over the weekend.
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The Israel Defense Forces recently issued an order expropriating over 1,100 dunams of land from four Arab villages located between East Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.

The land is slated to be used for a new Palestinian road that would connect East Jerusalem with Jericho. That in turn would "free up" the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim - through which the current Jerusalem-Jericho road runs - for a long-planned Jewish development consisting of 3,500 apartments and an industrial park.

The Palestinians and the international community, including the United States, have long objected to the E-1 plan on the grounds that it would cut the West Bank in two and sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. Israel claims that the new road will solve this latter problem.

Due mainly to American objections, the E-1 plan has been frozen since 2004, other than construction of a thus-far empty police station in the area. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told Haaretz last week that police would move into the station by the end of this year. However, Israel promised the U.S. at the time that the station would not serve as an initial stage of the full housing project.

The land is being confiscated from the villages of Abu Dis, Arab al-Sawahra, Nebi Musa and Talhin Alhamar. The expropriation order was signed on September 24.

The new road will run along a route originally planned by the Ma'aleh Adumim municipality in 2005. According to that plan, the route was meant to ensure "transportational contiguity among Palestinian population centers."

The plan also noted that the proposed housing development in E-1 would create an uninterrupted urban expanse between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim. Such an expanse would effectively sever the territorial contiguity between the northern and southern West Bank.

Ma'aleh Adumim's plan also called for building several other new roads to ensure "transportational contiguity" among Palestinian cities after work started on E-1. For instance, it proposed a ring road east of Ma'aleh Adumim that would link Hebron and Bethlehem, south of the settlement, with Ramallah to its north. Until the current expropriation order was issued, however, no steps had been taken toward building any of these roads.

Vice Prime MinisterHaim Ramon, the minister in charge of the "seam" region that runs along the border between Israel and the West Bank, told Haaretz that he was not consulted about the expropriation order and knows nothing about it.

The Defense Ministry said that the land was expropriated to pave the road and "has nothing to do with the E-1 issue."

An official in the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, who asked to remain anonymous, said that he could not comment on the expropriation order, "since we don't yet know all the details," but in general the U.S. opposes any move that could impair the chances of an Israeli-Palestinian final-status deal.

Barak Ravid contributed to this report.

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      1.   BUILD HOUSES FOR JEWS, NOT ROADS FOR ARABS))) 04:24  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 12/10/07
      2.   A Road to Apartheid... 04:29  |  POP 12/10/07
      3.   A message to Rice 04:29  |  Edifice 12/10/07
      4.   NO to intrusion 04:37  |  Brod 12/10/07
      5.   BUILD HOUSES FOR JEWS, NOT ROADS FOR TERRORISTS)))) 04:55  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 12/10/07
      6.   Get real 04:56  |  Steve Beikirch 12/10/07
      7.   Arab Land? 04:59  |  Mike 12/10/07
      8.   will this another show of arrogance ? 05:00  |  VIPER 12/10/07
      9.   Call in Canada`s ambassador 05:18  |  Ronnbo 12/10/07
      10.   New road 05:27  |  Iamashamed 12/10/07
      11.   Arabs 05:29  |  JJ 12/10/07
      12.   Democracy or Apartheid 05:30  |  Dan 12/10/07
      13.   In what other country is the US interested in insignificant road? 05:34  |  Genuine Tosefta 12/10/07
      14.   Occupied Territory 05:36  |  Neil 12/10/07
      15.   Everything is a conspiracy 05:37  |  Gili 12/10/07
      16.   Amusing Posts 05:57  |  Jim 12/10/07
      17.   Once thieves, always thieves 05:59  |  j 12/10/07
      18.   No 1 - sounds like..... 06:22  |  Palestinian Brit 12/10/07
      19.   4# Brod :A parasite eating away the pockets of the US taxpayer 06:25  |  Sam (UK) 12/10/07
      20.   Condi has nothing better to do but worry about one short road 06:27  |  Genuine Tosefta 12/10/07
      21.   define "Arab land" 06:28  |  Yosef 12/10/07
      22.   Gili you are lying as usual 06:32  |  gus 12/10/07
      23.   Let Them Look East 06:32  |  JR 12/10/07
      24.   jj I believe you are right. Only then Israel will talk peace 06:33  |  gus 12/10/07
      25.   j.....usa..........you`re right.... 06:34  |  maria 12/10/07
      26.   NO SUCH PEOPLE:"PALESTINIANS" 07:01  |  THE LIBRARIAN 12/10/07
      27.   RICE IS A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 07:03  |  NEW YORKER 12/10/07
      28.   US grills Israel?? 07:10  |  Steve 12/10/07
      29.   Neil #14 07:33  |  Butch ben Yok 12/10/07
      30.   One Way Diplomacy 07:43  |  Joshua 12/10/07
      31.   13 GTosefta: U Forgot One; Pals Given the Right of Return 2 their 07:51  |  Tupac 12/10/07
      32.   "Please Sir, Mr Israeli Ambassador" 07:52  |  H50 12/10/07
      33.   preemptive blow to peace talks 08:00  |  Pablo B 12/10/07
      34.   Appropriating lands of Pal Jerusalemites 08:08  |  Esther 12/10/07
      35.   controversial 08:26  |  rose 12/10/07
      36.   Bush is finally getting it, but too late 08:35  |  Natallie Durson 12/10/07
      37.   1 and 3. Roads and houses for Jews. 08:47  |  Palestinian Brit 12/10/07
      38.   Neil. Palestinian Jews 08:51  |  Palestinian Brit 12/10/07
      39.   Insignificent road? N0 13 08:57  |  Palestinian Brit 12/10/07
      40.   WHO DO THE AMERICAN THINK THEY ARE? 09:06  |  MIRIAM 12/10/07
      41.   Persistent Israeli lying to their American friends 09:08  |  Clickfool 12/10/07
      42.   JUST PROPAGANDA 09:10  |  indrajaya 12/10/07
      43.   Why this E-1 land theft now? 09:16  |  Clickfool 12/10/07
      44.   genuine tesefta 13 09:23  |  realism 12/10/07
      45.   Something the US annd Israel Havee in Common 09:31  |  Yaakov Sullivan 12/10/07
      46.   Wukk not be built either 09:34  |  Omran 12/10/07
      47.   Who the hell does she think she is? Tell her to bugger off! 09:43  |  Reuven 12/10/07
      48.   Divide and rule 10:18  |  sh 12/10/07
      49.   They`ve lied before,they`re lying again,only a police station! 10:21  |  lakshmi 12/10/07
      50.   U.S. Grills Israel 10:41  |  JordanisPalestine 12/10/07
      51.   Ma`aleh Adumim, the illegal settlement, will have to go 10:54  |  Jens 12/10/07
      52.   any Palestinian who want peace with Israel are pro E 1 11:04  |  Pavel 12/10/07
      53.   Good start to peace talks 11:21  |  Angus 12/10/07
      54.   to 51 Pavel:ISRAEL BY IT`S NATURE WILL NEVER BE "MORE SECURE" 11:22  |  Michele 12/10/07
      55.   Father: Forgive Condeleezza for she does not know what she do 11:28  |  Al Mathes 12/10/07
      56.   #21 The definition comes from the IDF 11:29  |  Outsider 12/10/07
      57.   Question for Pavel # 52 11:33  |  Clickfool 12/10/07
      58.   Why is only Rice Objecting? 11:34  |  Tzfonit 12/10/07
      59.   Palestinians need only 1 road... 12:09  |  Eddie 12/10/07
      60.   #40 Miriam 12:13  |  Chris Linthwaite 12/10/07
      61.   Experts everywhere 12:43  |  Jackie 12/10/07
      62.   Tzfonit from Ben-Ami Nahariya WHAT is YOUR PROBLEM 12:47  |  Gil 12/10/07
      63.   Palestinians have the right to fight for the E-1 area 12:58  |  Tamir Palestine 12/10/07
      64.   Israel just kill time don`t sign anything 12:59  |  Petra 12/10/07
      65.   Gil #62 What`s yours? 13:12  |  Tzfonit 12/10/07
      66.   Tamir Palestine if it is so disgusting CLOSE YOUR EYES 13:13  |  Gil 12/10/07
      67.   Edifice and fall 13:23  |  Truth 12/10/07
      68.   NO such people who ? 13:25  |  truth 12/10/07
      69.   Israel questioned 13:30  |  Hilda 12/10/07
      70.   NO INTRUSION. 13:35  |  DANNY. 12/10/07
      71.   to Neil in Aukland 13:39  |  Hilda 12/10/07
      72.   They should not be Griiled but ROASTED for confiscating 13:47  |  David K. 12/10/07
      73.   funny clickfool -- seems that`s your objective 13:50  |  bbl 12/10/07
      74.   TZFONIT my Arabist ZSA. 13:50  |  GABE1 12/10/07
      75.   Not "Palestinian" land 13:53  |  Steven A. 12/10/07
      76.   TO HELL WITH THE PALISTINIANS 13:58  |  M 12/10/07
      77.   Rice Meddles in Israeli Affairs again 13:58  |  ralphsrant1 12/10/07
      78.   Completing the encirclement of Arab East Jerusalem 14:04  |  Ben Alofs 12/10/07
      79.   Olmert should tell the truth 14:08  |  Tosefta 12/10/07
      80.   Fake ("genuine") Tosefta Alert 14:15  |  Tosefta