With pullout past, IDF moves to fence Ma'aleh Adumim

[TomClash]

By Meron Rapoport and Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondents

The Israel Defense Forces and the Civil Administration began issuing land expropriation orders this weekend for construction of the separation fence around Ma'aleh Adumim, after Attorney General Menachem Mazuz gave the bulk of the route a legal seal of approval.

The United States strongly opposes construction of a fence around the large West Bank settlement, arguing that it would impede the establishment of a viable Palestinian state by making it hard to move between the northern and southern West Bank.

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According to the Justice Ministry, the portions of the route approved to date - some of which will be built on state land, and some on private Palestinian land - are not substantially different from the original. Mazuz has thus far approved the western and southern sections of the route and part of the eastern section; he is still examining the remainder.

The planned route would put the easternmost point of the fence around Ma'aleh Adumim some 25 kilometers from the Green Line, or about half the width of the West Bank. Both the Palestinians and the international community say it would therefore prevent the establishment of a viable Palestinian state, as it would impede territorial contiguity between the southern and northern West Bank.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/616334.html